Actualization of regional leadership in the modern international relations: comparative analysis of the European and Middle Eastern regions

Abstract

This article reviews the regional peculiarities of political processes associated with the struggle for regional leadership that is a mainstream in the modern post-bipolar international relations. The authors give particular attention to the historical and theoretical principles of studying the concept of leadership in international relations, namely: provide various approaches towards determination of the status of a regional power, criteria for regional leadership, and specificities of interaction between the regional and global powers. Emphasis is placed on examination of the aforementioned phenomena and processes in the context of comprehensive impact of such global trends, as globalization and glocalization, decentralization of the system of international relations, and formation of the multipolar world order. The novelty of this work lies in the comparative analysis of regional peculiarities of the struggle for leadership in the European and Middle Eastern regions. The relevance of selecting Europe and Middle East is defined by their fundamentally different nature of the regional international relations. The authors reveal the common features and regional specificity of the struggle for leadership in these regions. The common features include: the significance of non-state actors (of different types), ethnic and cultural diversity, complexity of delineation of political boundaries. The regional specificities include: different tools, nature and goals of the struggle for leadership, unequal presence of global powers in the regions, etc. The conclusion is drawn on the need for further examination of the matter to improve the international political forecasting.