Der multipolare Wahn

Mohan argues that despite widespread claims, the world remains fundamentally unipolar, with the United States as the only true pole. Although powers such as China and Russia have expanded their economic and military reach, neither possesses the comprehensive global capabilities (i.e., alliances, technological dominance, financial centrality, and power projection) required to reshape the international system. The return of Donald Trump has not marked the end of American primacy but rather a shift toward a more unilateral and transactional exercise of it, shedding multilateral responsibilities while retaining unmatched leverage. Efforts to construct counterweights, including BRICS and other middle-power coalitions, remain fragmented and internally divided, limiting their ability to constrain Washington. The result, Mohan contends, is not a balanced multipolar order but an “unleashed” American unipolarity exercised with fewer constraints and less regard for institutional norms.