This work investigates how the increasing interconnectedness of global actors alters the traditional exercise of state power and the effectiveness of military force. Joseph S. Nye and Robert O. Keohane, both prominent scholars in international relations, utilize a framework of complex interdependence to challenge the realist assumption that states are the only significant actors in global politics. They argue that economic and social linkages create new constraints and opportunities that redefine how nations achieve their objectives in an era of global integration.

This text is widely regarded as a foundational contribution to the neoliberal institutionalist school of international relations. Its analytical framework remains a standard reference for understanding the limitations of state power in a globalized system.