Balancing „unipolarity”: Russian responses to American preeminence
Balancing „unipolarity”: Russian responses to American preeminence

Summary/Abstract: The end of the Cold War put a stop to a half-century long bipolar international order, which was commonly regarded as a period of stability and equilibrium. As the balance of power ended, many policy analysts predicted that the United States would soon be balanced against by the other powers. Yet, as of today, no great power balancing has emerged. In the absence of traditional balancing, scholars developed the notion of soft-balancing, defi ned as a non-military form of opposition, occurring when weaker states decide that the infl uence and actions of a stronger state are unacceptable. This concept started to replace hard-balancing in the discussion of international resistance to the preponderance of American power.

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