CHAPTER 3
Polarity of the System
In the period assessed in the study, 1816–2016, there were six instances of
the three possible polarity models: two multipolar systems, 1849–1870 and
1910–1945; three bipolar systems, 1816–1848, 1871–1909, and 1946–1991;
and one unipolar system, 1992–2016.^1
Table 3.1 shows the summary of the system polarity models, 1816–2016,
and a novel determination of the study—the definition of the international
system in 1816–1945 as alternating between multipolar and bipolar. That
deliberation confronts the current study with most other theoretical stud-
ies, which argue that the entire 19th century was multipolar.
Table 3.1
Summary of Polarity of the System, 1816–2016
1816–1848
Bipolarity1849–1870
Multipolarity1871–1909
Bipolarity1910–1945
Multipolarity1946–1991
Bipolarity1992–2016
UnipolarityEngland/
Great
Britain
Russia/
Soviet
Union
Prussia/
Germany
*
Austro-
Hungary
*
France
Italy *
Japan *
United
States
*
China