Multipolarity in theory: integration, fragmentation, fragmegration

Multipolarity has become a defining feature of international politics since the 2000s, yet scholarship remains fragmented with limited cross-perspective dialogue. This study offers an interpretive conceptual analysis that maps and connects key debates, advancing an integrated understanding of multipolarity. We iteratively identify three analytical orientations: integrationist, stressing interdependence and systemic cohesion amid shifting power balances (‘coordinated pluralism’); fragmentationist, emphasising decentralisation, regional rivalries, and the erosion of global leadership; and fragmegrationist, which captures the simultaneous processes of integration and fragmentation shaping world order. By mapping these perspectives, we situate multipolarity within broader debates on world order and related notions, such as the G-Zero world/nonpolarity, heteropolarity/heterarchy, multi-order, polycentrism, post-Western world, multiplex world order, multinodal world, and pluripolarity. Ultimately, our study contributes to establishing multipolarity as a distinct field of study, offering a structured foundation for future theoretical and empirical research on the evolving architecture of global power and governance.