Polarity in International Relations

Day 767, 08:13 • Published in USA Austria • by Albert Neurath

One thing that I usually dislike doing is drawing real-world comparisons to eRepublik concepts. It has the effect of bringing in all the nastiness of the real world and just binging it together with the nastiness of the eWorld. However, there are some concepts in the real world that can be applied to eRepublik quite well. One of these is the study of international relations.

In today's eRepublik world, we, in terms of international relations, are roughly equivalent to the real world of the mid-1980s, a "bipolar" political arrangement. There exist two major alliances, EDEN and Phoenix (I shall leave it to the reader to imagine who the Soviets/Warsaw Pact are), with whom a majority of countries are allied. Outside of, or partially affiliated with either one of the alliances exist three smaller alliances, which have little real power in the world but do exert enough political capital that the two larger powers must at least take note of their existence. There are very few neutral countries in the world. All of these conditions can be applied to both 1985 in RL, and the eWorld today.

However, like real-world 1985, one of the superalliances is on the upswing, and one is on the downswing. Most of the fighting up to this point has not taken place anywhere near the home territories of one of the major powers, instead taking place in the hinterlands of the world. Phoenix, although still a viable alliance, is looking more like the Soviet Union of 1985 in that the proxy battles are turning against it, and nations are chafing under its rule. If EDEN can succesfully remove the remaining vestiges of Phoenix forces from the hinterlands, then BAM, we have just suddenly hit 1991.

For those of you too young to remember this time, 1991 is the year when the Soviet Union finally collapsed. In that year, what was a "bipolar" arrangement suddenly became a unipolar arrangement, as the US and its allies were unmatched on the world stage. We are coming to this point in history here, where Phoenix might lose a great deal of influence and be restricted to its home regions. Some more nations, emulating the split of the Entente from the larger organization, might leave Phoenix. The same could happen to EDEN should EDEN falter. It is under these conditions that the stage is set for the multipolar world.

The multipolar world, in terms of alliances, is one where there exist several alliances of roughly equivalent power. This is also the world which we are moving into becoming. After the Soviet Union collapsed, the USA and NATO lost their only tangible enemy. Without the common specter of fear of Communism binding them together, these allies began to drift apart, leading to the rise of the European Union, and contributed to the reformation of the African Union and other alliances. Should one of the major alliances "collapse", which in this context means lose enough influence as to become unviable, we will finally begin moving into a multipolar world.

Despite the inevitability of this occurrence happening, there is still a burden of legitimacy that must be placed on the smaller alliances. Sol currently is politically moribund and if it wants to ever grow in influence it must drastically reshape its organization, and also acquire a higher population. The ALA must get control of its member states, again preferrably by gaining more population and by cleaning out the corruption endemic to smaller nations. The Entente is currently the small alliance with the best political potential. For it to gain its legitimacy, it must first liberate the Spanish-occupied regions of France. From there, it has the greatest chance of, at least, becoming a third major power, and at most helping speed the eWorld into multipolar politics.

Albert Neurath