Multipolarity is a myth – military power and alliances.
Stephen G. Brooks 23, Professor of Government at Dartmouth College and a Guest Professor at Stockholm University, and William C. Wohlforth, Daniel Webster Professor at Dartmouth College, 4-18-2023, Foreign Affairs, "The Myth of Multipolarity," https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/china-multipolarity-myth //AS
But this view is wrong. The world is neither bipolar nor multipolar, and it is not about to become either. Yes, the United States has become less dominant over the past 20 years, but it remains at the top of the global power hierarchy—safely above China and far, far above every other country. No longer can one pick any metric to see this reality, but it becomes clear when the right ones are used. And the persistence of unipolarity becomes even more evident when one considers that the world is still largely devoid of a force that shaped great-power politics in times of multipolarity and bipolarity, from the beginning of the modern state system through the Cold War: balancing. Other countries simply cannot match the power of the United States by joining alliances or building up their militaries.