Description
Our paper provides a comparative analysis of the thinking on ‘polarity’ within Russian and American discourses on international relations (IR). Polarity is regarded as a basic building block of the realist theory of IR. This paper reveals it has taken on an intellectual life of its own within Russia. Combining in-depth interviews with Russian academics in IR departments in Moscow and St. Petersburg with the analysis of key texts in American and Russian realist thought, we explore a fundamental divergence in the conceptions of “multipolarity” between these national contexts. We argue this conceptual pluralism poses a challenge to academics and practitioners who may otherwise believe they are speaking the same, universal language of IR. The conceptual differences between American and Russian realisms cut so deep there seems to be no common ground for dialogue. This finding prompts us to reconsider the possibilities and limits of a Global IR.
