Interdependence sounds like a polite word. Like a group chat where everyone shares notes and nobody leaves you on read.
Then a single shipment gets delayed, a payment system breaks, or a cyberattack spills across borders--and suddenly the same “connections” feel like handcuffs.
That tension is exactly why IB Global Politics treats interdependence as a contested concept. It can reward cooperation, but it can also manufacture conflict. Your exam job is not to pick a side too early. It is to show how the outcome depends on symmetry, vulnerability, institutions, and political choices.
Quick checklist for a high-scoring IB Global Politics answer
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Define interdependence clearly (economic, political, security)
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Make a claim: why it can encourage cooperation
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Counterclaim: how it can create conflict through leverage
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Evaluate: when cooperation is more likely than conflict (or vice versa)
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Use one or two real examples, explained not just named
If you want a clean definition before writing, start with What Is Interdependence in Global Politics?.
How interdependence becomes cooperation
Cooperation happens when interdependence raises the cost of fighting. If two economies rely on each other for trade, investment, finance, or energy, conflict becomes self-harm. In , this is where you connect interdependence to incentives: actors cooperate to protect what they share.
