What does this research mean for the field?

Great powers sustain world order projects and manage radical uncertainty by simultaneously projecting conflicting futures of historical inevitability and imminent fragility. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.CONTRADICTORY. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.CHALLENGES_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To theorize how major powers govern radical international uncertainty by sustaining conflicting temporal narratives of both inevitable triumph and existential fragility.

September 6, 2026Review of International Studies

Governing radical uncertainty: Temporal superposition and the stability of world order projects

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Authors

ISIgor Sevenard RCRichard J. Cook

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Overview

Qualitative discourse analysis reveals how superposed conflicting futures stabilize world order narratives in Chinese foreign policy, highlighting how strategic paradoxes sustain hegemony.

Key Points

To theorize how major powers govern radical international uncertainty by sustaining conflicting temporal narratives of both inevitable triumph and existential fragility.
Conducted a qualitative discourse analysis of China's 'Global Community of Shared Future' (GCSF) framework spanning from 2013 to 2025.
Applied an analytical heuristic bridging quantum social theory with historiographical typologies of future generation.
Demonstrated that Chinese discourse superposes a future of historical inevitability to drive international coordination alongside a narrative of imminent fragility to enforce domestic political discipline.
Identified that world order resilience relies on managing paradoxical temporal regimes of expectation management rather than projecting linear timelines.

Cite This Study

Sevenard et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9d1eb628139818eab21bb9 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260210526102137

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September 6, 2026Review of International Studies

Governing radical uncertainty: Temporal superposition and the stability of world order projects

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

ISIgor Sevenard RCRichard J. Cook

Discussion

Member takes

Overview

Qualitative discourse analysis reveals how superposed conflicting futures stabilize world order narratives in Chinese foreign policy, highlighting how strategic paradoxes sustain hegemony.

Key Points

To theorize how major powers govern radical international uncertainty by sustaining conflicting temporal narratives of both inevitable triumph and existential fragility.
Conducted a qualitative discourse analysis of China's 'Global Community of Shared Future' (GCSF) framework spanning from 2013 to 2025.
Applied an analytical heuristic bridging quantum social theory with historiographical typologies of future generation.
Demonstrated that Chinese discourse superposes a future of historical inevitability to drive international coordination alongside a narrative of imminent fragility to enforce domestic political discipline.
Identified that world order resilience relies on managing paradoxical temporal regimes of expectation management rather than projecting linear timelines.

Cite This Study

Sevenard et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9d1eb628139818eab21bb9 https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260210526102137

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