Revisiting Regional Security Complexes in the Era of Multipolarity

Power distribution in the world has been shifting in ways that favor regional configurations. As former superpowers, such as the U.S.A or Russia, are turning inward and scale back their global commitments, the globe is becoming more multipolar. This trend provides an opportunity for global regions to deepen their internal interactions and pursue their own agendas. The literature on regional security complexes argues that interaction and interdependence clusters countries geographically into regions, which have their own security dynamics of power distribution, competition, security dilemmas and collaboration networks. This panel reviews the current power shift and the security dynamics of regions such as the Indo-Pacific, the Western Hemisphere, the Middle East, Africa, Eurasia, and the Arctic. It also examines how traditional regional security agendas built around national defense and interstate rivalry are being supplemented by wider security challenges, such as, climate instabilities, AI risks, technological advancements, cyber threats, maritime disputes, and organized crime networks, which defy territorial and sectoral boundaries, and complicate relations both within and between regions.