The global distribution of power is changing. But how should we make sense of this moment of transition?

With the rise of new powers and the decline of seemingly unchallenged US dominance in world politics, a conventional wisdom is gaining ground that a new multipolar order is taking shape. Yet multipolarity an order with multiple centres of power is variously used as a description of the current distribution of power, of the likely shape of a future global order, or even as a prescription for how power 'should' be distributed in the international system. From rising powers to established powers, contemporary debates are analysed by a set of leading scholars to provide in-depth insight into the use and abuse of a widely employed but rarely explored concept.