Emergent actors in world politics

In this book, Cederman effectively illustrates that while structural realist predictions about unit-level invariance hold up under certain circumstances, they are heavily dependent on fierce power competition, which can result in unipolarity instead of the balance of power. Emergent Actors in World Politics provides a thorough examination of the processes of nationalist mobilization and coordination in multi-ethnic states.

Cederman points out that such states' efforts to instill loyalty in their ethnically diverse populations may backfire, and that, moreover, if the revolutionary movement is culturally split, its identity becomes more inclusive as the power gap in the imperial center's favor increases.