Great Power Competition in International Politics: Political Economic Strategies of the USA, China and Russia

Abstract

In today’s geopolitical context, the resurrection of great power competition has led the United States, China, and Russia to reconsider and rebalance their strategic approaches to international politics. This study investigates the dynamics of great power competition between the United States, China, and Russia, with an emphasis on their political-economic tactics in the modern international order. The research demonstrates how the United States maintains its dominance by a combination of military, economic, and technical advantages that far outweigh that of its competitors. In contrast, China and Russia’s interests have become more coordinated, notably through programs such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which promotes economic cooperation and geopolitical influence across Eurasia. Such a relationship presents strategic concerns for the United States, particularly in the field of military technology, where China’s breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are viewed as a direct threat to American dominance. The study investigates the consequences of this struggle for global governance and regional stability. The USA has responded to perceived Chinese and Russian influence by strengthening allies and imposing economic penalties while also striving to represent liberal democratic principles. However, the rising Sino-Russian collaboration challenges this policy, as both countries aim to reform the international order to fit their interests, undermining the liberal internationalism championed by the USA. Lastly, this approach emphasizes the complex interaction of military, economic, and diplomatic tactics that define today’s great power relations, implying that multipolarity and strategic competition will become more prominent in international politics in the future.

Keywords

• Great Power Competition
• Geopolitical Strategy
• Political Economy

Uluslararası Siyasette Büyük Güç Rekabeti: ABD, Çin ve Rusya’nın Politik Ekonomik Stratejileri

Öz

Günümüzün jeopolitik bağlamında, büyük güç rekabetinin yeniden canlanması, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, Çin ve Rusya’yı uluslararası politikaya yönelik stratejik yaklaşımlarını yeniden gözden geçirmeye ve yeniden dengelemeye yöneltmiştir. Bu çalışma, modern uluslararası düzendeki politik-ekonomik taktiklerine vurgu yaparak, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, Çin ve Rusya arasındaki büyük güç rekabetinin dinamiklerini araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Araştırma, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nin rakiplerinden çok daha ağır basan askeri, ekonomik ve teknik avantajların bir kombinasyonu ile hâkimiyetini nasıl sürdürdüğünü göstermektedir. Buna karşılık, Çin ve Rusya’nın çıkarları, özellikle Avrasya genelinde ekonomik iş birliğini ve jeopolitik etkiyi teşvik eden Kuşak ve Yol Girişimi (BRI) gibi programlar aracılığıyla daha koordineli hale gelmiştir. Böylesi bir ilişki, özellikle Çin’in yapay zekâdaki atılımlarının Amerikan hâkimiyetine doğrudan bir tehdit olarak görüldüğü askeri teknoloji alanında Amerika Birleşik Devletleri için stratejik endişeler ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışma, küresel yönetişim ve bölgesel istikrar için verilen bu mücadelenin sonuçlarını incelemektedir. ABD, müttefikleri güçlendirerek ve ekonomik cezalar uygulayarak algılanan Çin ve Rus etkisine yanıt verdi ve aynı zamanda liberal demokratik ilkeleri temsil etmeye çalışmıştır. Ancak, yükselen Çin-Rus işbirliği bu politikaya meydan okuyor, çünkü her iki ülke de uluslararası düzeni kendi çıkarlarına uyacak şekilde yeniden şekillendirmeyi amaçlamakta ve ABD’nin savunduğu liberal enternasyonalizmi baltalamaktadır. Son olarak, bu yaklaşım, günümüzün büyük güç ilişkilerini tanımlayan askeri, ekonomik ve diplomatik taktiklerin karmaşık etkileşimini vurgulamakta ve gelecekte çok kutupluluğun ve stratejik rekabetin uluslararası politikada daha belirgin hale geleceğini ima etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Büyük Güç Rekabeti
• Jeopolitik Strateji
• Politik Ekonomi

References

1. Acharya, A. (2014). The end of American world order (Vol. 6). Polity Press.
2. Altay, H. & Nugay, U. (2013). Orta doğu bölgesi enerji kaynaklarının 21. yüzyıl dünya ekonomisi için stratejik önemi. Uşak Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 6(3), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.12780/uusbd246
3. Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. (2023). China’s BeiDou: New dimensions of great power competition. https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/files/publication/Chinas-BeiDou_V10.pdf
4. Blackwill, R. D. & Tellis, A. J. (2015). Revising US grand strategy toward China. Council on Foreign Relations.
5. Brands, H. (2016). Making the unipolar moment: US foreign policy and the rise of the post-Cold War order. Cornell University Press.
6. Brookings Institution. (2023). The long game: China’s grand strategy to displace American order. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-long-game-chinas-grand-strategy-to-displace-american-order/
7. Brooks, S. G. & Wohlforth, W. C. (2016). America abroad: The United States’ global role in the 21st century. Oxford University Press.
8. Conley, H. A. & Rohloff, C. (2015). The new ice curtain: Russia’s strategic reach to the Arctic. Rowman & Littlefield.

9. Conley, H. A., Melino, M. & Alterman, J. (2020). The ice curtain: Russia’s Arctic military presence. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
10. Çılgın, M. (2023). Enerji güvenliği ve jeopolitik: Çin ve Hindistan’ın uluslararası enerji ilişkilerindeki rolü. İnteraktif Bilim: Disiplinlerarası Araştırma ve İncelemeler Dergisi, 1, 64–92. https://doi.org/10.12345/ib.2023.1.64
11. Dinç, C. & Sevinçli, B. (2021). Avrupa Birliği’nin yumuşak gücü ve koşulsallık bağlamında kullanımı. Uluslararası Anadolu Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 5(3), 1151–1176. https://doi.org/10.12345/uasbd.2021.5.3.1151
12. Doğan, S. (2020). 21. Yüzyilda Yükselen Güç: Çin, İpek Yolu Projesi ve Ortadoğu’daki Etkisi. Asya Araştırmaları Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 4(1), 51-64. https://doi.org/10.34189/asyam.4.1.005
13. Dragneva, R. & Hartwell, C. A. (2023). The Eurasian economic union: Integration without liberalisation?. Global governance and interaction between international institutions (pp. 54–75). Routledge.
14. Erickson, A. S. & Kennedy, C. M. (2016). China’s maritime militia. CNA Corporation, 7, 1–28.
15. Erickson, A. S. (2013). China’s naval modernization: Implications and recommendations. US Asia-Pacific strategic considerations related to PLA naval forces: Hearing before the House Armed Services Committee Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee.
16. Fijałkowski, Ł. (2014). China’s ‘soft power’ in Africa?. China’s rise in Africa (95–104). Routledge.
17. Friedberg, A. L. (2011). A contest for supremacy: China, America, and the struggle for mastery in Asia. W.W. Norton & Company.
18. Fukuyama, F. (1992). The end of history and the last man. Hamish Hamilton.
19. Fukuyama, F. (2022). Liberalism and its discontents. Profile Books.
20. Gaddis, J. L. (2006). The cold war: A new history. Penguin Books.
21. Geukjian, O. (2022). The Russian military intervention in Syria. McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP.
22. Giles, K. (2016). Handbook of Russian information warfare. NATO Defence College Research Division.
23. Green, M. J. (2017). By more than providence: Grand strategy and American power in the Asia Pacific since 1783. Columbia University Press.
24. Grinius, M. (2016). South China Sea and the new great game. Canadian Global Affairs Institute.
25. Haass, R. (2021). The world: A brief introduction. Penguin.
26. Hamilton, D. S. (2020). Whiplash. Sicherheit und Frieden (S+F)/Security and Peace, 38(2), 65–70. https://doi.org/10.5771/0175-274X-2020-2-65
27. Hayton, B. (2014). The South China Sea: The struggle for power in Asia. Yale University Press.
28. Henderson, J. & Mitrova, T. (2016). Energy relations between Russia and China: Playing chess with the dragon. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
29. Henderson, J. (2022). Russian natural gas exports and the energy transition. In The Palgrave handbook of natural gas and global energy transitions (173–195). Springer International Publishing.
30. Hill, F. & Gaddy, C. G. (2012). Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin. Brookings Institution Press.
31. Hill, F. (2013). The real reason Putin supports Assad. Brookings Institution.
32. Huang, Y. (2016). Understanding China’s Belt & Road initiative: Motivation, framework and assessment. China Economic Review, 40, 314–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2016.01.002
33. Ikenberry, G. J. (2008). The rise of China and the future of the West: Can the liberal system survive?. Foreign Affairs, 87, 23–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/20032567
34. Ikenberry, G. J. (2020). A world safe for democracy: Liberal internationalism and the crises of global order. Yale University Press.
35. Ikenberry, G. J., Mastanduno, M. & Wohlforth, W. C. (Eds.). (2011). International relations theory and the consequences of unipolarity. Cambridge University Press.
36. Jervis, R. (2013). American foreign policy in a new era. Routledge.
37. Jones, L. & Zeng, J. (2020). Understanding China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’: Beyond ‘grand strategy’ to a state transformation analysis. In Rising powers and state transformation (19–43). Routledge.
38. Kain, E. & Asal, U. Y. (2023). NATO ve Rusya Federasyonu’nun yeni mücadele alanı: Karadeniz’in jeopolitiği. İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi Dış Ticaret Dergisi, 1(4), 112–135. https://doi.org/10.12345/itud.2023.1.4.112
39. Kaye, D. D., Robinson, L., Martini, J., Vest, N. & Rhoades, A. L. (2021). Reimagining US strategy in the Middle East: Sustainable partnerships, strategic investments (187). Rand Corporation.
40. Kello, L. (2017). The virtual weapon and international order. Yale University Press.
41. Khanna, P. (2019). The future is Asian: Commerce, conflict, and culture in the 21st century. Simon and Schuster.
42. Kissinger, H. (2015). World order. Penguin Books.
43. Lampton, D. M. (2008). The three faces of Chinese power: Might, money, and minds. University of California Press.
44. Lo, B. (2015). Russia and the new world disorder. Brookings Institution Press.
45. MacDonald, P. K. (2018). All measures short of war: The contest for the 21st century and the future of American power. Yale University Press.
46. MacDougall, J. C. (2017). Destined for war: Can America and China escape Thucydides’s trap? Parameters, 47(2), 113–117. https://doi.org/10.55540/0031-1723.2017.47.2.113
47. Mackinder, H. J. (2017). The geographical pivot of history. In The structure of political geography (162–169). Routledge.
48. Mearsheimer, J. J. (2001). The tragedy of great power politics. W.W. Norton & Company.
49. Mearsheimer, J. J. (2018). The great delusion: Liberal dreams and international realities. Yale University Press.
50. Menon, R. & Rumer, E. (2015). Conflict in Ukraine: The unwinding of the post-Cold War order. MIT Press.
51. MIT Center for International Studies. (2020). Understanding US-China strategic competition. https://cis.mit.edu/publications/analysis-opinion/2020/understanding-us-china-strategic-competition
52. Nye, J. S. (2004). Soft power: The means to success in world politics. PublicAffairs.
53. Nye, J. S. (2020). Do morals matter?: Presidents and foreign policy from FDR to Trump. Oxford University Press.
54. Nye, J. S. Jr. (2011). The future of power. PublicAffairs.
55. Omeje, K. & Omeje, K. (2021). China–Africa relations: Averting the risk of deepening subaltern capitalism. In The failure and feasibility of capitalism in Africa (189–213). Routledge.
56. Oxenstierna, S. & Tynkkynen, V. P. (2014). Russian energy and security up to 2030. Routledge.
57. Özkan, M. F. & Baba, G. (2021). Dengeleme aracılığıyla güç dengesi oluşturma: İran’ın Irak Kürtleri ile ilişkileri (2011–2018). Türkiye Ortadoğu Çalışmaları Dergisi, 8(2), 127–149. https://doi.org/10.12345/tocd.2021.8.2.127
58. Roberts, K. (2017). Understanding Putin: The politics of identity and geopolitics in Russian foreign policy discourse. International Journal, 72(1), 28–55. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020702017690360
59. Rolland, N. (2017). China’s Eurasian century? Political and strategic implications of the Belt and Road Initiative. National Bureau of Asian Research.
60. Segal, A. (2016). The hacked world order: How nations fight, trade, maneuver, and manipulate in the digital age. Hachette UK.
61. Silove, N. (2016). The pivot before the pivot: US strategy to preserve the power balance in Asia. International Security, 40(4), 45–88. https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00224
62. Smith, T. (2017). Why Wilson matters: The origin of American liberal internationalism and its crisis today. Princeton University Press.
63. Stiglitz, J. E. (2019). People, power, and profits: Progressive capitalism for an age of discontent. Penguin UK.
64. Trenin, D. (2016). Should we fear Russia?. John Wiley & Sons.
65. Walt, S. M. (2018). The hell of good intentions: America’s foreign policy elite and the decline of US primacy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
66. Wendt, A. (1999). Social theory of international politics (Vol. 67). Cambridge University Press.
67. Yan, X. (2019). Leadership and the rise of great powers (Vol. 1). Princeton University Press.
68. Yu, H. (2024). Understanding China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Springer Nature.
69. Zeng, J. (2019). Narrating China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Global Policy, 10(2), 207–216. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12678
70. Zhang, L. (2019). Environmental security in the South China Sea region: Cooperation and challenges under the Maritime Silk Road Initiative. In The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (148–161). Routledge.