print

The world of polycentrism:
the role of values in major powers' competition

Gromyko Al. A.,

Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, alexey@gromyko.ru

elibrary_id: 250282 | ORCID: 0000-0003-4228-1552 | RESEARCHER_ID: U-7726-2018

Article received: 2024.09.02 19:48. Accepted: 2024.09.03 19:49


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2024.06.02
EDN: RGEQWS

Rubric: Theme of the issue: geopolitics modeling in the era of global transformation

For citation:

Gromyko Al. A. The world of polycentrism: the role of values in major powers' competition. – Polis. Political Studies. 2024. No. 6. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2024.06.02. EDN: RGEQWS (In Russ.)

This article was prepared with the support of a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation for major scientific projects in priority areas of scientific and technological development No. 075-15-2024-551 “Global and regional centers of power in the emerging world order”.

Abstract

The Cold War was replaced by a post-bipolar world, which is morphing into polycentricity (multipolarity).In spite of the uncertainty regarding its final parameters and structural pillars, it is possible to assert that the current stage of international relations has two main features: selective deglobalisation and a new round of competition between major powers. Centrifugal forces in the 21^st century have proved themselves stronger than the necessity of consolidation in the face of universal challenges: international terrorism, climate change, pandemics, etc. Apart from economic and political contradictions, opposite interpretations of national security interests, the sphere of competition of values has emerged and is going through a restructuring process. The task of this research is to determine if value narratives and accompanying ideologies are reasons or consequences of the escalation of tensions in the “Russia - USA - EU” triangle. The author compares the role of value antagonisms today with the periodof the Soviet-American clash of capitalism and socialism paradigms. The research shows that the resumption of geopolitical competition results not from the incompatibility of certain socio-economic models, but from a struggle for leadership in the system of global governance and regulation. In the course of this struggle, the value discourse, which in general has an objective foundation, is exposed with time to profound securitisation and geopolitisation, leading to the construction of antagonisms: “democracies - autocracies” and “pseudo-values - traditional values”. It is noted that the hypertrophied usage of the values' differences, with all their objectivity, can evolve from the function of cultural interaction to a self-perpetuating factor of interstate contradictions, which hinders adequate assessment of national and foreign resources and potential.

Keywords

values, polycentrism, antagonisms, securitisation, geopolitisation, Russia, USA, EU.

Gromyko, Al. (2022). The pandemic and the crisis in the system of international relations. In R. Benedikter et al. (Ed.), Re-globalization. New Frontiers of Political, Economic, and Social Globalization (pp. 189-201). Abingdon, New York: Routledge.

Hutton, W. (2002). The world we're in. London: Little, Brown.

Leonard, M. (2005). Why Europe will run the 21^st century. London, New York: Forth Estate.

O'Brien, C.R. (2024). The return of peace through strength. Foreign Affairs, July/August.

Pabst, A. (2018). The global revolt against the liberal world order. In Peter W. Schulze (Ed.), Multipolarity: The Promise of Disharmony (pp. 103-125). Frankfurt, New York: Campus Verlaine.

Reid, T.R. (2004). The United States of Europe: the new superpower and the end of American supremacy. New York: Penguin Press.

Sakwa, R. (2015). Frontline Ukraine. Crisis in the borderlands. London, New York: I.B. Taurus.

Zielonka, J. (2014). Is the EU doomed? Cambridge, Malden: Polity.

Baranovsky, V.G., & Kuvaldin, V.B. (2023). Global conflict: an attribute of a changing world order or an outdated tool for its transformation? Polis. Political Studies, 6, 8-20. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2023.06.02

Bratersky, M.V. (2024). The world of fragmentation is changing the world of globalization. Current Problems of Europe, 1, 18-41. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31249/ape/2024.01.02

Bubnova, N.I. (2021). Voenno-politicheskiy kurs SSha vo vtorom desyatiletii XX v. [The military-political course of the USA in the second half of the 20^th century]. Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russ.)

Butorina, O.V (2024). EU trade with China: the problem of scarcity? Contemporary Europe, 7, 5-20. (In Russ.)

Guerot, U., & Ritz, H. (2022). Endspiel Europe. Warum das politische Projekt Europa gescheitert ist - und wie wir wieder davon traumen konnen. (Russ. ed.: Guerot U., & Ritz H. Endshpil' Evropa. Pochemu poterpel neudachu politicheskiy proekt Evropa I kak nachat' snova o nyom mechtat'. Erevan, Moscow: Fortis Press. 2024).

Gromyko, Al.A. (2019). Dilemmas of the European defence union. Outlines of Global Transformations: Politics, Economics, Law. 12(2), 6-28. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.23932/2542-0240-2019-12-2-6-28

Gromyko, Al.A. (2022). European culture — centripetal and centrifugal forces. Social Sciences and Contemporary World, 3, 7-20. (In Russ.)

Gromyko, Al.A. (Ed.). (2023). Evropeiskie issledovaniya I sovremennye mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [European studies and contemporary international relations]. Moscow: Institute of Europe RAS, Ves' Mir. (In Russ.)

Davydov, А.А. (2022). Pragmatichnyi idealizm: prodvizhenie demokratii vo vneshnei politike SShA [Pragmatic idealism: the promotion of democracy in the foreign policy of the USA]. Moscow: Aspect Press. (In Russ.)

Roginko, S.A. (2023). The climate agenda of the EU and mistakes of the energy transition. In A.A. Gromyko (Ed.), Evropa v global'noi peresborke [Europe in the Global Remaking] (pp. 355-373). Moscow: IE RAS, Ves' Mir. (In Russ.)

Roginko, S.A. (2024). EU energy crisis and the European energy market. Contemporary Europe, 3, 95-110. (In Russ.)

Sheremetiev, D.V. (2017). Evolyutsiya evropeiskoi politiki bezopasnosti I oborony v usloviyah globalizatsii [The evolution of the European policy of security and defence in the conditions of globalization]. Moscow: Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya. (In Russ.)

Timoshenko, A.G., & Seroshtanov, K.V. (2023). Formirovanie voenno-promyshlennogo kompleksa Evropeiskogo soyuza v 2000-2022 [The Formation of the military-industrial complex of the European Union in 2000-2022]. Tomsk: Tomsk State University. (In Russ.)

Voronkov, L.S. (2024). Climate aspects of the EU energy strategy. Scientific and Analytical Herald of IE RAS, 1, 64-78. (In Russ.)

Zhade, Z.A., & Kukva, E.S. (2023). Identichnost’ v geopoliticheskih diskursah [Identity in the geopolitical discourses]. In I.S. Semenenko (Ed.), Identichnost': lichnost', obshestva, politika. Novye kontury issledovatel'skogo polya [Identity: Personality, Societies, Politics. New Contours of the Research Field] (pp. 108-118). Moscow: Ves Mir. (In Russ.)

Zhurkin, V.V. (2012). The European army: defeats and victories. Obshchaya politika bezopasnosti i oborony Evropeiskogo soyuza [Evropeiskaya armiya: porazheniya I pobedy. Common security and defence policy of the European Union]. Moscow: Mezhdunaridnye otnosheniya. (In Russ.)

See also: