Anders Wivel

University of Copenhagen, Department of Political Science, Faculty Member

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Anders Wivel, PhD, is Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen. He has published widely on foreign policy, small states in international relations, and power politics and IR realism. His academic articles have been published in e.g., International Affairs, International Studies Review, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict, Journal of International Relations and Development, Ethics and International Affairs, and European Security. His most recent books are Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations (Oxford University Press, 2021, co-edited with T.V. Paul, Deborah W. Larson, Harold Trinkunas and Ralf Emmers) and Polarity in International Relations: Past, Present, Future (Palgrave, 2022, co-edited with Nina Græger, Bertel Heurlin and Ole Wæver). Personal webpage: anderswivel.com
Phone: +45 31727081
Address: Department of Political Science. University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, DK1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark

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Norms in Great Power Competition: Peaceful Change in a Spheres of Influence World

The New Cold War and the Remaking of Regions (pp. 53-74). Georgetown University Press, 2025

This chapter uses spheres of influence as an analytical lens to assess the prospects for peaceful... more This chapter uses spheres of influence as an analytical lens to assess the prospects for peaceful change in an international system increasingly characterized by great power rivalry. The main argument is that the prospects for peaceful change depend on the compatibility of states' expectations of what spheres of influence are and ought to be, and their willingness to negotiate and compromise on these expectations. I argue that spheres of influence entail repertoires of expectations regarding appropriate behavior, relative influence and gains, and contributions to the maintenance and development of the sphere. In doing so they create challenges and opportunities for dominance, resistance, and peaceful change. Spheres of influence are negotiated hegemonies reflecting different compromises on what international affairs is and ought to be. For this reason, they are sites of contestation and negotiation: horizontally between great powers agreeing and disagreeing on common rules for all spheres in the international system and how much action space to allow hegemons in their respective spheres of influence, and vertically between the sphere's hegemon and small states and middle powers located inside the sphere. The argument proceeds in three sections followed by a conclusion. The first section asks, "What is a sphere of influence?" and identifies three characteristics. The second section asks, "What are the prospects for peaceful change in a sphere of influence world?" It discusses liberal and realist takes on the sphere of influence and introduces an alternative way of understanding spheres of influence as repertoires of expectations. The third section asks, "What are the implications of US Chinese rivalry in a spheres of influence world for regional and global peace and order?" Building on the previous sections, it discusses the characteristics of US and Chinese spheres of influence, the compatibility of the spheres, and the chances of finding a modus vivendi allowing for peaceful change in the coming years. Finally, I conclude the paper.

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Levels of Analysis

Elgar Encyclopedia of International Relations, 2025

Levels of analysis allow us to explain the complex and sometimes chaotic ongoings of internationa... more Levels of analysis allow us to explain the complex and sometimes chaotic ongoings of international life by designating causes and effects to levels such as the individual, the state and the international system. Foreign policy analysis, in particular, opens the black box of the state and points to a political level (governments and parliaments), a societal level (interest groups and electorates) and an individual level (political leaders). Current debates on levels of analysis highlight three challenges of the concept: there is no consensus on the number and nature of levels; there is no consensus on how levels relate and combine; and the nature of levels remains contested – the classical literature emphasized material properties, whereas more recent work points to the importance of social, ideational and perceptual factors.

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Soft balancing in the regions: causes, characteristics and consequences

International Affairs, 2025

US decline and retrenchment is increasing the importance of regional dynamics across the internat... more US decline and retrenchment is increasing the importance of regional dynamics across the international system. Over the past decade, International Relations scholars have described and conceptualized this development variously as 'de-centred globalism', a 'multi-order world', a 'multiplex world' or a multicultural 'no one's world', but the links between the regional and global levels and the roles and functions of regional institutions in power politics continue to be poorly understood. This special section uses the analytical lens of soft balancing-that is, attempts at restraining a threatening power through diplomatic and institutional delegitimation-to explore these links. Soft balancing has been used extensively to understand developments at the great power level, but its focus on diplomatic and institutional strategies holds considerable potential for explaining how rising powers, middle powers and smaller states seek to navigate the emerging international order. Contributors to the section discuss developments in the Indo-Pacific, Central Asia, Europe and BRICS to answer questions such as: what are the characteristics of soft balancing in the regions? How do regional actors apply different soft balancing strategies? When and under what conditions will soft balancing strategies be effective? What is their impact on regional and global orders? This introduction offers an overview of soft balancing in theory and practice and their relevance to the world's regions.

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Soft balancing in the regions: causes, characteristics and consequences

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Setting the scene

Routledge eBooks, Mar 14, 2014

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Small States and International Security

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Contrasting Allison, Challenging Waltz: Geopolitics and the Study of Foreign Policy

Small States and the War in Ukraine

Transatlantic Policy Quarterly

The War in Ukraine signals a return to the sphere of influence politics and great powers’ use of ... more The War in Ukraine signals a return to the sphere of influence politics and great powers’ use of military instruments against their weaker neighbors. The consequences for small states are negative. Although some small states will find new opportunities for hedging and brinkmanship, most small states will see their chances of shaping international agendas reduced as they increasingly focus on defensive aims. To meet these challenges small states must work together to promote their shared interests: 1) A modus vivendi between the great power, which minimizes the risk of great power war as well as the annexation and invasion of smaller states, 2) a rule-based international order; 3) a relaunch the United Nations as the central arena for debates on international society among sovereign states.

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The institutional dynamics of Euro-Atlantic integration

Maximizing Security through International Institutions: Soft balancing strategies reconsidered

International Institutions and Power Politics: Bridging the Divide, Oct 1, 2019

This paper unpacks how states use international institutions to soft balance other states. As the... more This paper unpacks how states use international institutions to soft balance other states. As the institutionalization of the international realm has increased, so has the use of soft balancing as a security strategy. Discussions and analyses of soft balancing often mention the use of institutions as an integral part of soft-balancing strategies, but so far the logics of institutional soft balancing remain relatively unexplored. This book chapter explains why and how states use institutions in their soft balancing strategies.

Security Strategies and American World Order: Lost Power

... Mason and James D. Meernik Controlling the Weapons of War Politics, persuasion, and the prohi... more

Exploring International Institutions and Power Politics

International Institutions and Power Politics: Bridging the Divide, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter unpacks the literature on international institutions and power politics, discusses t... more

The Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Change in International Relations

Oxford University Press eBooks, Oct 8, 2020

With the rapid rise of China and the relative decline of the United States, the topic of power tr... more With the rapid rise of China and the relative decline of the United States, the topic of power transition conflicts is back in popular and scholarly attention. The discipline of International Relations offers much on why violent power transition conflicts occur, yet very few substantive treatments exist on why and how peaceful changes happen in world politics. This Handbook is the first comprehensive treatment of the subject of peaceful change in International Relations. It contains some 41 chapters, all written by scholars from different theoretical and conceptual backgrounds examining the multi-faceted dimensions of this subject. In the first part, key conceptual and definitional clarifications are offered and in the second part, papers address the historical origins of peaceful change as an International Relations subject matter during the Inter-War, Cold War, and Post-Cold War eras. In the third part, each of the IR theoretical traditions and paradigms in particular Realism, liberalism, constructivism and critical perspectives and their distinct views on peaceful change are analyzed. In the fourth part papers tackle the key material, ideational and social sources of change. In the fifth part, the papers explore selected great and middle powers and their foreign policy contributions to peaceful change, realizing that many of these states have violent past or tend not to pursue peaceful policies consistently. In part six, the contributors evaluate the peaceful change that occurred in the world’s key regions. In the final part, the editors address prospective research agenda and trajectories on this important subject matter.

A Research Agenda for the Study of Peaceful Change in World Politics

This concluding chapter offers a summary and evaluation of the key ideas contained in the chapter... more This concluding chapter offers a summary and evaluation of the key ideas contained in the chapters of this Handbook. The chapter discusses peaceful change in terms of conceptual clarity; historical evolution of scholarship in the area, especially the interwar, Cold War, and post–Cold War era efforts at analyzing the concepts; and the policy innovations in this realm. This is followed by an evaluation of the key umbrella theories of international relations—realism, liberalism, and constructivism—and how they approach peaceful change. Some important sources and mechanisms of change are analyzed. This is followed by discussion of the policy contributions of selected great and rising powers toward peaceful change. The chapter then offers a summary of contributions and progress that various regions have made in the area of peaceful change. It concludes with some ideas for future research while highlighting the significance of the subject matter for international relations and the world order.

International Institutions and Power Politics: Bridging the Divide

Soft Balancing, Institutions, and Peaceful Change

Ethics & International Affairs, 2020

This essay examines the role of institutional soft balancing in bringing forth peaceful change in... more This essay examines the role of institutional soft balancing in bringing forth peaceful change in international relations. Soft balancing is understood as attempts at restraining a threatening power through institutional delegitimization, as opposed to hard balancing, which relies on arms buildup and formal alignments. We argue that soft balancing through international institutions can be an effective means to peaceful change, spanning minimalist goals, which aim at incremental change without the use of military force and war, and maximalist goals, which seek more profound change and transformation in the form of continuous interstate cooperation aimed at a more peaceful and just world order. However, the success of soft-balancing strategies in fostering peaceful change varies widely, even in today's globalized and institutionalized international environment. We explore these variations and identify thre...

Introduction: Understanding Polarity in Theory and History

Springer eBooks, 2022

What Future for Small States After Unipolarity? Strategic Opportunities and Challenges in the Post-American World Order

Springer eBooks, 2022

Introduction:Scandinavian politics between myth and reality

Scandinavia has become a symbol of advanced postmodern societies. This chapter identifies the sha... more

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