Strategic competition, or great power competition, has become a new buzz-word in international politics. Yet, few studies have undertaken any systematic examination of what caused its return to the centre stage of international relations. This study hence formulates a parsimonious structural explanation of renewed great power rivalry. Relying on the insights of neorealism and its two structural variants—defensive realism and offensive realism—the study first suggests that current definitions of strategic competition are, due to their emphasis on power competition, overly imbued with offensive realist nuances. However, security competition, which originates in the security dilemma, also underlies strategic competition. Employing neorealism’s polarity perspective, this study then posits that the end of US-led unipolarity and ongoing power deconcentration in the international system are major causes of renewed great power rivalry. While unipolarity harnesses the anarchic effect and compels second-tier major powers to exercise strategic restraint, multipolarity resurrects insecurity and removes disincentives for the aggressive pursuit of power, influence, and status. Ever intensifying security competition and power competition have thus shifted international politics into a new paradigm defined by great power conflict.

中文翻译：

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极性与战略竞争：新一轮大国竞争的结构性解释

战略竞争，即大国竞争，已成为国际政治的新​​流行词。然而，很少有研究对导致其重返国际关系中心舞台的原因进行系统考察。因此，本研究对新一轮大国竞争提出了一个简洁的结构性解释。依靠新现实主义及其两种结构变体（防御性现实主义和进攻性现实主义）的见解，该研究首先表明，当前战略竞争的定义由于强调权力竞争，过度地充满了进攻性现实主义的细微差别。然而，安全竞争源于安全困境，也是战略竞争的基础。本研究运用新现实主义的极性视角，认为美国主导的单极格局的结束和国际体系中持续的权力分散是大国竞争重新出现的主要原因。单极利用无政府主义效应并迫使第二梯队实行战略克制，而多极则重新带来不安全感，并消除对权力、影响力和地位的积极追求的抑制因素。安全竞争和权力竞争不断加剧，国际政治进入大国冲突的新格局。