US GEOSTRATEGY IN TIMES OF HEGEMONY CRISIS

FROM GEOPOLITICAL CONTAINMENT TO GEOECONOMIC DECOUPLING

Abstract

The weakening of U.S. centrality in the global capitalist dynamics has prompted the adoption of a new geostrategic approach by the United States, aimed at preserving its hegemony across key regions of the world. This study seeks to identify and analyze the new strategic practices of the U.S. are in response to its geoeconomic, military, and technological challenges in the contemporary world. In this context, The Russo-Ukrainian war stands out as a paradigmatic example of this “new” U.S. geostrategic posture in the global system, as it illustrates two central dynamics: the selective and progressive geoeconomic decoupling between the West and the Russo-Chinese-Iranian bloc, and the intensification of geopolitical-military containment across different fronts of the Eurasian rimland. Consequently, the research adopts a critical-realist analytical framework to examine Western foreign policies in the genesis and development of the Russo-Ukrainian war, strategic studies from think tanks commissioned by the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. defense and nuclear deterrence multi-annual plans and reports, and other specialized bibliographic references on the subject matter.