Unipolarity and Multipolarity in the System of International Relations
Unipolarity and Multipolarity in the System of International Relations

Summary/Abstract: When the Cold War ended, the United States faced a great debate over the re-evaluation of the basic principles of foreign policy. A central element of this discussion is related to the development of a security policy for this new era as well as the US military objectives. During the Cold War there was a broad consensus regarding the meaning of security as a word. At that time, security directly referred to the physical integrity and political sovereignty of the nation-state. Security was primarily related to the purpose, function, structure and cost of the armed forces. The security policy was formulated by a small group of people from the White House and the Departments of State and Defense (Popescu, 2020 : 14). Over the last decade, the short definition of the word security has been called into question. Several notions of security have been suggested, incorporating other aspects, such as aspects of economic nature, aspects of social and environmental life, as well as military aspects. The main reason for redefining the meaning of security was the acknowledgement that the economic power of a state is of great importance in achieving its objectives, which will represent the new priorities of foreign policy. Another reason is the one brought to attention by environmental problems, as global warming is considered a major problem with direct effects on each person’s health and safety, and this situation requires cooperation both regional and global cooperation. From the point of view of foreign policy, the main concern of the USA was the achievement of a common security, which later turned into a collective security, thus going far beyond the notion of military blocs. Collective security includes all states or at least most states in a region, based on the idea that the security of one state is linked to the security of other states in the region. Therefore, a conflict within the states or between the states from the same geographical area is and becomes a concern for the other states. Collective security aims to incorporate all participating states into decisions that affect regional security.

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