BOOK REVIEW
The Triangle of Power: Rebalancing the New World Order, by Alexander Stubb, Columbia Global Reports, 13 January 2026, 216 Pages, $18.00 (Paperback), ISBN 9781967190102
While scholars of international relations have long debated the trajectory of global order from the unipolar moment of American hegemony to the multipolar fragmentation of today, few voices carry the authority of someone who has navigated both the corridors of academia and the highest echelons of statecraft. Alexander Stubb's The Triangle of Power arrives at a juncture when the liberal international order forged in the ashes of World War II and sustained through the Cold War's bipolar standoff appears not merely strained but on the brink of reconfiguration. Critics from realist traditions echoing Thucydides through Mearsheimer have long warned that the rise of challengers like China would precipitate inevitable conflict with spheres of influence supplanting rules-based multilateralism (Mearsheimer, 2014). Idealists heirs to Kant and Wilson cling to the promise of perpetual peace through institutions like the United Nations where sovereign equality might temper raw power. Stubb charts a middle path arguing that the post-Cold War era ended decisively on February 24, 2022, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine ushering in an interregnum of disorder where three poles the Global West Global East and Global South form a triangle whose dynamics will dictate the next order. This holds no abstract theorizing. Stubb's narrative pulses with the urgency of a practitioner who texted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov three days into the war pleading "Please please stop this madness. You are the only one who can stop him" only to receive deflections blaming Zelenskyy and Biden underscoring propaganda's grip even among elites. Yet the book's core tension lies deeper. In a world where economic interdependence once promised harmony how can the West defend its values of freedom and democracy without alienating the Global South's agency-seekers or provoking the Global East's autocratic revisionists? Stubb insists that values-based realism a dignified foreign policy blending principle with pragmatic engagement offers the prescription urging multilateral renewal over multipolar Yalta-style carve-ups in favour of a Helsinki-style rules applicable to all. This tension animates every page positioning the book as a timely intervention not only for international relations practitioners but crucially for Social Issues in Management (SIM) scholars probing inequality stakeholder agency and ethical globalization and Conflict Management (CM) scholars dissecting escalation dynamics in hybrid regimes.
The author himself embodies this practitioner-scholar ideal lending the narrative an authenticity rare in geopolitical treatises. Alexander Stubb, elected President of Finland in 2024, brings a resume that spans continents and crises from his undergraduate days at Furman University in 1989 where he studied the Berlin Wall's fall amid faxed clippings from his father in Finland wagering champagne that Russia would democratize a bet he lost to roles as Finnish Foreign Minister Prime Minister Vice-President of the European Investment Bank and professor at the European University Institute. Born to a Finnish family scarred by Soviet aggression with a great-great-uncle co-authoring Finland's 1917 independence declaration paternal grandparents displaced by World War II concessions and a maternal grandfather mine-injured in 1941 meeting his wife in hospital Stubb's worldview forms in small-state precariousness bordering imperial Russia. His multilingual fluency, triathlon prowess, and Finnish humour infuse anecdotes like brokering Georgia's 2008 ceasefire armoured riding over mountains to secure signatures from Saakashvili and Lavrov or golfing seven hours with Trump Lindsey Graham Gary Player and Trey Gowdy in 2025 debating Putin untrustworthiness amid transactional diplomacy. These credentials naturally shape the narrative. As a Nordic social democrat bridging Atlantic realism Stubb critiques post-1989 Western hubris while advocating reformed multilateralism granting Global South agency transforming tensions into lived imperatives. In contexts where reviewers prize insider-outsider lenses advancing theory via empirical nuance Stubb's background elevates from polemic to pivotal synthesis for SIM scholarship on grand corruption's social toll and CM scholarship on de-escalation rituals.
Stubb structures across three parts mirroring past, present, and future with Order's erosion Triangle balance and dynamics of competition-conflict-cooperation. Part One traces bipolar Cold War stability unipolar post-1989 optimism to disorder via 9/11 pivoting security over freedom Iraq-Afghanistan debacles eroding legitimacy 2008 crisis reputational blows populist Brexit-Trump surges. Anecdotes ground this deeply. Stubb recalls his 1990 Furman immersion abandoning golf for international relations amid the Wall's fall believing Jean Monnet's words that nothing lasts without institutions. He describes midsummer 2016 bonfire disbelief at Brexit followed by a BBC town hall where a woman shouts "your GDP not mine" revealing perceived elite disconnects from working-class grievances. These moments humanize the slide into disruption where Western triumph feels like imposition to the formerly colonized who see liberalism as extended hegemony rather than liberation. The academic tension pits Fukuyama's end-of-history against Huntington's clashes (Fukuyama, 1989). Stubb indicts Western failure to humbly grant agency post-victory enabling China's transactional ascent filling voids left by American retreat after costly wars. Yalta's multipolar spheres of 1945 where big powers carved Europe contrast Helsinki's 1975 equal multilateralism framing the choice ahead (Ikenberry, 2011). Institutional path dependence sidelines the South breeding resentment as bodies like the OSCE reform EU regionally without global equity. For SIM scholars this evokes grand challenges like inequality amplification through Western myopia where climate poverty and migration hit the South hardest demanding inclusive institutions. CM scholars see escalation from ignored grievances urging integrative bargaining models that expand the pie beyond zero-sum positions.
Part Two dissects the Triangle balance a conceptual innovation resolving bipolar simplifications into fluid interplay. The Global West encompassing the US EU and Pacific allies like Japan Australia New Zealand Canada and South Korea commands fifty percent of global GDP but only fifteen percent of population wedded to democracy markets and rights. The Global East led by China with Russia's support and smaller autocrats like Belarus North Korea Iran represents twenty percent of both population and GDP pushing sovereignty and non-interference while routinely questioning smaller states' borders through spheres of influence or South China Sea advances. The pivotal Global South over half the world's nations and population but under twenty-five percent GDP demands redistribution with key players like India Indonesia Pakistan in Asia South Africa Kenya Nigeria in Africa Saudi Arabia Qatar UAE in the Gulf and Brazil Argentina Mexico in Latin America showing overlaps as India eyes Quad membership yet buys Russian arms. Anecdotes vivify these forces. Stubb recounts texting Lavrov from Espoo mere hours from Russia's quiet border feeling tectonic plates shift as propaganda parrots culture bans and murdered Russians in Ukraine. He evokes opening a Siberian power plant in 2013 with the late Putin now confiscated and Xi meetings blending world-scale analysis with deft rights avoidance. Structural binds transcend ideology with demography's youth bulge in South and East versus West's aging climate's disproportionate Southern toll and technology's dual-use from AI to cyber weaponization. Interdependence once glue now fragments via economic coercion where energy currency information and trade become battlefields.
This holds profound relevance for SIM scholars. The Triangle maps stakeholder inequities akin to marginalized voices in multinational corporations where Southern agency mirrors call for equitable supply chains and voice in global governance. Values-based realism aligns with Freeman's stakeholder theory and Sen's capabilities approach ensuring equity amid diversity without universalizing Western norms (Freeman, 1984; Saito, 2003). Ethical lenses probe tensions between efficiency and equity tech displacement privacy loss and accessibility risks much like corporate social responsibility grapples with profit versus planet in autocratic markets. Management scholars discern institutional isomorphisms where regimes mimic for legitimacy, yet power asymmetries persist as China's Belt and Road state capitalism challenges Western norms fostering hybrid organizations blending public private dynamics. For CM scholarship, the integrative models shine. Healthy competition like Nordic hockey or telecom rivalry spurs prosperity but unmanaged spills into conflict echoing Thomas-Kilmann modes where collaboration trumps avoidance. Cases abound with India's fence-sitting rational amid Pakistan-China threats Africa's Soviet nostalgia fueling neutrality Latin America's non-intervention rooted in colonial memory and Turkey Saudi transactional flex blurring bloc lines into fluid alliances.
Part Three forecasts the dynamics prioritizing competition's containment into cooperation. Healthy rivalry drives innovation from economy to technology to military but spillover risks conflict absent new norms (Mowery, 1998). Cooperation demands values-based realism defined as universal values of freedom rights and rules accounting for global diversity culture and history. Stubb calls this Helsinki realism an evolution from post-Cold War values-based idealism a temporary instrument blending Fukuyama's values with Huntington's realism into rule of law alongside respect for difference. Anecdotes illuminate vividly. Stubb recounts 2008 poolside lies from Lavrov amid Lehman chaos armoured dashes in Georgia clutching refugee bags under Russian guns and 2025 Zelenskyy dinner post-Helsinki crowds amid attrition stalemate and Trump calls. The Thucydides Trap looms in US-China rivalry where rising Athens fears Sparta, but Stubb rejects determinism advocating refurbished UN for Southern seats reformed IMF quotas and dignified policy of mutual respect leading by example not exhortation walking talk on freedom and ethical warfare engaging dialogue over monologue.
Ethical constructs emerge centrally balancing efficiency with equity and confronting risks of technological displacement privacy erosion and unequal access. These resonate deeply with management theory's paradox lens from Smith and Papineau resolving values-interests tensions in corporate social responsibility amid geopolitics. Principled negotiation from Fisher and Ury underpins Helsinki realism preventing Thucydides via agency-granting mediation expanding options for all parties (Fisher & Ury, 1981). The agenda sets future research probing ethics in innovation failure conditions and public value metrics in multipolarity much like public-sector innovation wrestles with measuring social impact sans profit motives. Management parallels abound with stakeholder theory juggling shareholders and societal license hybrid governance blurring public-private in Belt and Road outsourcing norms to private actors challenging sovereignty itself.
For SIM scholars, Stubb's Triangle reframes social issues as grand challenges transcending borders. Inequality via Southern underrepresentation demands inclusive institutions echoing divisions on poverty justice and sustainability. Climate demography and tech inequities invoke micro-macro links where values-based realism operationalizes ethical decision-making frameworks like Trevino's in multinational enterprises navigating autocratic markets without complicity. Anecdotes humanize these stakes with Georgian refugees clutching bags under gunfire mirroring migration ethics in SIM or Western double standards from Iraq to Gaza eroding legitimacy akin to corporate hypocrisy backlash. The book urges theorizing hybrid regimes where democracy-autocracy blends foster social innovation with Southern middle powers like India or South Africa modeling agency for marginalized stakeholders in global value chains. SIM divisions on business and society gain a geopolitical scaffold probing how firms mediate Triangle tensions fostering equitable globalization or perpetuating divides.
CM scholars glean rich escalation models from Ukraine as hybrid war snapshot where weaponized everything from energy to information demands dual-concern models distinguishing interests from positions. Lavrov texts reveal propaganda impasse urging interest-based dialogue and track-two diplomacy like Trump golf building rapport amid rivalry. Stubb's realism integrates core constructs with collaboration-cooperation dynamics and dignified policy as high-trust mediation fostering psychological safety for de-escalation. Tensions forecast US-China Trap as destructive competition preventable via integrative frameworks expanding the pie for Global South inclusion. CM research agendas emerge around multipolar conflict prevention ethical warfare norms and public value in peacebuilding paralleling organizational conflict resolution in diverse multicultural teams.
The empirical breadth proves panoramic rivalling finest syntheses. Stubb spotlights India's rational fence-sitting balancing Quad ideals with Russian arms amid threats from Pakistan and China. Brazil levels equal-opportunity critiques of Western hypocrisy while buying into markets. African neutrality stems from food energy and historical ties evoking Soviet nostalgia over post-colonial liberal lectures. China's zero-COVID backfire and post-Ukraine EU trade balancing against Russian fealty underscore East-West ideological core democracy versus autocracy yet shared globalization stakes. Trump's America First tests Western cohesion potentially revitalizing NATO via spending hikes but eroding institutions via tariffs. Europe pivots energy from Russia yet cautions without Southern buy-in multilateralism crumbles. These vignettes integrate international relations frameworks from balance-of-power realism to liberal institutionalism highlighting anomalies like Iran's Russian drones defying Chinese restraint.
Yet the empirical heft while panoramic leans descriptive over explanatory a familiar limit in practitioner works. Theoretical eclecticism draws Thucydides Fukuyama Huntington sans grand synthesis leaving institutional origins of Triangle dynamics underexplored. Counterfactuals remain sparse wondering if NATO non-enlargement might quell Putin or Chinese WTO exclusion spur reform. Measurement challenges persist from quantifying disorder to valuing Southern agency absent GDP parity. Reifying poles risks oversimplification as democratic India pulls transactional Southward. Post-new public management blurring merits deeper probe with private-public hybrids in Belt and Road challenging sovereignty through outsourcing norms. Trump's 2025 re-election post-dating early drafts demands updating asking if transactionalism dooms multilateralism or catalyzes realism. These gaps however spotlight opportunities much as Stubb positions them framing the book as starting point for deeper engagement.
The Triangle of Power stands essential for SIM and CM scholarship, bridging international relations and management. It synthesizes decades of practitioner wisdom into forward agendas blending anecdote with analysis to humanize abstract tensions. International relations practitioners gain playbook for values-based realism. SIM scholars probe social justice amid geopolitics urging micro foundations of grand challenges. CM scholars glean de-escalation rituals for hybrid wars. Those seeking airtight theory or exhaustive data may hunger for more but Stubb's clarion for reformed multilateralism resonates amid 2026 upheavals from Ukraine stalemates to Trump-Xi summits. Ultimately, this reframes the post-liberal interregnum not as demise but agency with Triangle interplay offering paths to cooperation if West East and South choose Helsinki over Yalta. Organization studies illuminates micro-macro links where global power reorganizes institutions urging empirical scrutiny of hybrid regimes thriving in disorder. A field ripe for Triangle-informed research beckons blending ethics management and power into new syntheses.
Disclosure of interest
The author(s) confirm that there are no financial or non-financial competing interests.
Statement of funding
No funding was received.
References
Fisher, R., Ury, W. L., & Patton, B. (2011). Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in. Penguin.
Freeman, R. E. (2010). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Cambridge university press.
Fukuyama, F. (1989). The end of history?. The national interest, (16), 3-18.
Ikenberry, G. J. (2011). Liberal leviathan: The origins, crisis, and transformation of the American world order. Princeton University Press.
Mearsheimer, J. J. (2014). Why the Ukraine crisis is the West's fault: the liberal delusions that provoked Putin. Foreign Affairs, 93, 77.
Mowery, D. C. (1998). The changing structure of the US national innovation system: implications for international conflict and cooperation in R&D policy. Research Policy, 27(6), 639-654.
Saito, M. (2003). Amartya Sen’s capability approach to education: A critical exploration. Journal of philosophy of education, 37(1), 17-33.
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Reviewed by:
Mayukh Mukhopadhyay
Executive Doctoral Scholar
Indian Institute of Management Indore
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