International Politics, Vol. 34, No. 4 abstracts International Politics , Vol. The state, engine and focus of politics for the last 350 years, is in systemic decline. In addition, the use of a single term to describe the unit of sovereignty worldwide is an obstacle to understanding the world as it is becoming. The collapse of the USSR offers an opportunity to examine the theoretical and political insights of contending approaches in international relations propositions offered by three seminal volumes on international politics that are considered in light of the international systems' post-Cold War evolution.
Discussion focuses on the behavior of great powers and the applicability of theory to policy.
Strengths and weaknesses of each principal theoretical path are elaborated in conditions following the Soviet demise, with the lasting and robust insights from realism evident. However, since 1989, serious shifts in diplomatic and economic interests have forced a reappraisal. If this process continues, it will represent an emergent 'new trilateralism' between East Asia, Europe and North America. Of pressing concern, however, is whether this process can begin to incorporate adjacent regions such as South Asia, Russia and Central Asia in a new civilizational dialogue. At the same time, the smaller states of the region fear Russian domination.