The Role of Holding Companies in Strengthening Gulf Economic and Political Interests Among Great Power Competition in the Asia-Pacific

The adoption of the 2017 U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) marked Washington’s official pivot to “great power competition” as the conceptual framework for U.S. foreign policy. The shift to great power competition as the foundation for U.S. foreign policy represents an acknowledgment that the “forever wars” in the Middle East had become an expensive, strategically dubious distraction from the more pressing challenge posed by a revanchist Russia and a rising China. The template for much of the “new” thinking about great power competition is the Cold War – the last time the U.S. faced a peer competitor – whose shadow hangs over much thinking about U.S. policy toward Beijing and Moscow. In many ways, though, the Cold War was an outlier in the history of U.S. foreign policy, a product of very specific circumstances that are unlikely to be replicated in the 21st century. A danger exists in seeing the Cold War as a typical example of great power competition, or in using it as a template for U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century. Great power competition is usually a chronic condition, which is to say, more or less incurable. In order for a country like the United States to enter a new era of great power competition with China and Russia, it will need to convince the American public that the stakes are high and the dangers are great enough to justify the costs. Without the ideological or existential stakes of the Cold War, public support for an assertive strategy of containing Chinese and Russian influence will likely be hard to maintain. Rather, the U.S. is likely to continue the reversion toward its pre-Cold War pattern of seeking to insulate itself from the dangers of the world, and increasingly pass the burden of resisting the expansion of Chinese and Russian influence to others.

Introduction: Great power competition in Africa is a multifaceted phenomenon with significant implications for regional stability, economic development, security, and governance. This study explores the drivers, strategies, and impacts of major global powers in Africa, aiming to deepen our understanding of the complexities of great power rivalry on the continent. Methodology: Employing a qualitative research approach, this study conducts a comprehensive review of existing literature, scholarly research, and expert insights to analyze great power competition in Africa. Data collection involves gathering and synthesizing information from diverse sources, followed by qualitative analysis techniques to interpret key findings and insights. Results/Findings: The study identifies several key findings, including the strategies employed by major global powers, the challenges posed by great power competition, and the role of regional organizations in managing external influence in Africa. Future Directions: Building on these findings, future research directions could explore the long-term implications of great power competition on sustainable development, governance, and regional cooperation in Africa.

This article presents the first comprehensive collation of available information on China's provision of security force assistance (SFA) to African countries over the last two decades. While China is engaged in donating arms, military equipment, and training abroad, knowledge of the nature of its SFA programmes has been at best fragmented and partial. In this article, we fill this gap by outlining China's stated rationale for providing SFA, the level of funding, which states received it, and what they received. We contextualize our analysis in light of current debates over China's rise and great power competition, as well as its broader engagement in African security. Based on our original data, we argue that in providing SFA to most African states, China aims to strengthen long-term relations and protect its economic interests. While we find no evidence that China is attempting to supplant the US and other providers’ role in Africa, we point to some unintended consequences.

Proxy wars play a prominent role in great power competition. During both the Cold War and the recentGlobal War on Terror, Special Operations Forces (SOF) have been pivotal in these proxy engagements. This chapter explores how SOF can achieve strategic effects in three scenarios of proxy wars: alliances to fight a common enemy, contests for influence, and indirect confrontations. It finds that the less conspicuous qualities of SOF—such as the ability to conduct informal diplomacy, to influence local security institutions discreetly, to expose the activities of rival great powers, and to offer strategic advice to local partners—provide unique advantages to the sponsoring state. These activities may bring about pragmatic, ad hoc alliances among rivals against a common enemy, and a sustainable long-term presence in states subject to influence by rival powers. Thus, SOF allows for an expansion of choices available to policymakers and the economy of force in less critical geographical areas of competition, although broader political effects ultimately depend on the legitimacy of the proxy relationship.

The erosion of unipolarity in conjunction with the rise of new as well as great powers who are “near peer competitors” in an increasingly multipolar world has contributed to the changing conceptualization of war. This development coupled with an increasingly uncertain international milieu, has brought significant changes in strategic thinking as new modes of warfare, new technologies and new adversaries in different places have come to the fore. These places of strategic consequence include the Gulf of Guinea which has the potential to become an important theatre for great power rivalry as a major hydrocarbon hub, an important trading route and also a source of economic diversification. The Gulf of Guinea has likewise seen increased securitisation as great powers increase their defence engagements across the globe. Moreover, the intensification of great power competition is likely to make each theatre more consequential as a competitive edge may be gained from greater engagement. The research has endeavoured to analyse the geopolitical background of the great power competition in the Gulf of Guinea; to assess the current nuances and dimensions of great power competition in the Gulf of Guinea; to examine the potential challenges and prospects that accompany great power competition and their implications for countries in the region; and to consider the long-drawnout ramifications and implications of great power competition in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Great Power Rivalry is a strategic reality with implications at both the international and regional levels. The concept of 'Great Power Competition' (GPC), first formally identified in the 2017 US National Security Strategy, aimed to explain great power behaviors in the post-US hegemony period. While existing literature is rich in historical and global impact studies, research focusing on the conceptual and theoretical aspects of rivalry within the context of security strategies remains scarce. This chapter addresses this gap by offering a comprehensive theoretical and analytical framework for GPC. The central problem investigated is: “How does great power rivalry affect the struggles of small and middle powers, especially in the context of security strategies and doctrines?” The Iran-Israel struggle (2017 to 2023) is presented as a key illustrative case study for future analysis, demonstrating the necessity of the proposed theoretical approach.

The proposition that modern western democracy is a point of intersection of modern political, economic and national interests is substantiated. In particular in the process of becoming a capitalistsociety, the political interests of the “middle class”, which are realized primarily through collegial legislative bodies in opposition to the institutions of feudal absolutism and despotism, wereinextricably linked with economic interests – mass interest in the creation of ground foundations of free competition, as shown in the article, formed the political interests of the general population andbecame a necessary prerequisite for the emergence of Western political democracy that arose as a result of great European and American bourgeois social revolutions. At the same time it is shown that the antimonarchical system of separation of powers based on the mechanism of “checks and balances”, the introduction of the principle of equality before the lawcontribute to the realization of the ideal of the state “night watchman” and, thus, activate the process of becoming national markets; it was thanks to these political institutions and the emergence of civilsociety that guaranteed the assertion of inalienable rights and freedoms and the filling of political interests with democratic content as one of the most important components of a modern law state thatthe advanced capitalist countries pushed. That is why the famous “Declaration of the Rights of Freedom of Man and Citizen”, which refers to the powerful motives of activity in the political realm ofcitizens of the law state proclaims that the “source of sovereign power is the nation”. It is also proved that the extremely negative impact on the democratization of the Ukrainian statehood and the development of a market economy, which made possible the Russian aggression against Ukraine, makes the current dismantling by the leading EU and US countries a model of a social state and a “mixed economy”, which has consequently become the next financial world crisis. In turn, the steady increase in global instability and the presence of a powerful comprador fifth column in Ukraine, require the formation of political institutions and mechanisms in our country that ensure maximum consideration and realization of political interests of nationally conscious citizens through an effective model of presidentialism, which all these years is only being imitated in our country. In the light of the world experience, a number of systemic characteristics of such a form of political government and a consistent democratic social order have been analyzed.

This paper explores in depth how the UN Security Council responds to the challenges in global governance through the strategy of multilateralism in the context of the current great power competition. In the specific study, the main focus is to analyze in detail how the Security Council adapts to the new dynamics brought about by great power competition, so as to conclude that in the context of great power competition, the UN Security Council’s strategy of multilateralism is crucial to the effectiveness of the global governance system. The Council must adopt adaptive and innovative strategies to enhance the transparency and inclusiveness of its decision-making process and ensure its authority and efficiency in global governance. At the same time, the innovation of the global governance system requires the participation and contribution of wisdom from all countries to realize the democratization of global affairs and the rule of law through the principle of common cause and common sharing and to jointly build a community of shared destiny for humankind. This requires the international community to strengthen solidarity and cooperation, oppose confrontation and pressure, promote equality and mutual trust, oppose the hegemony of the powerful and work together to maintain an international order based on international law.

The economic world in Indonesia has grown rapidly as the times, the numbers of jobs that have expanded along with the increase in demand for jobs in Indonesia and inceasing bussines competition. Over time, holding companies have become an option for companies in Indonesia. Holding Company becomes the main company that organize the parent company and oversees the management of several subsidiaries that are members of one grup of companies. This company is a type of limited liability company that aims to organize, manage and oversee the perfomance of company. Bankcrupty is a risk that can occur in a company both to the parent company and subsidiaries in a BUMN holding company.

Significance A series of phone calls between Putin and Trump in March and April prompted talk of a 're-set' in relations, as both states grappled with COVID-19. The Kremlin may see an opportunity to push for concessions from Washington in the remaining months of Trump's term, out of concern that rapprochement would be become more difficult if he is defeated by Joe Biden in the November election. Impacts Both presidents face risks to their popularity through unemployment and protests. The Trump administration's 'great power competition' narrative groups Beijing and Moscow together, with the latter clearly the junior actor. Intensified US-Chinese confrontation leaves little room for discussing Russia.

This study aims to evaluate how great power competition in the Arctic, driven by new maritime routes emerging from melting sea ice due to climate change, significantly reduces shipping distances between Europe and Asia and impacts the dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region. This development has intensified strategic competition among major powers, especially China, the United States, and Russia. According to the realism theory, these countries pursue national interests by seeking to establish influence over the Arctic route. This study uses a qualitative methodology based on a comprehensive literature review, analyzing secondary data from academic publications, policy documents, and expert reports. The findings are synthesized and presented through descriptive narrative analysis to provide insights into the complex interactions between Arctic developments and Indo-Pacific regional dynamics. This study reveals that great power competition centered on the Arctic has substantial spillover impacts in the Indo-Pacific region, especially on regional environmental sustainability and geopolitical stability, particularly in the Malacca Strait region. A major limitation of this study lies in the evolving nature of great power competition in the Pacific Ocean, which poses challenges in accessing up-to-date information and analyzing fast-changing dynamics. The study concludes that the interconnectedness between the Arctic and the Indo-Pacific requires a nuanced understanding of the evolving geopolitical landscape. The findings have implications for regional security, economic cooperation, and environmental sustainability in both regions.

Military geography is implicit in many geopolitical arguments that come with the increased great power competition. However, as military geography is one of the disciplines that informs and constitutes geopolitics it is prudent to move beyond geographical metaphors and make the military geography explicit in the argument in order to gain a better understanding of geopolitics. Using Denmark as a case, this article compares Danish military geography during the Cold War and now in the era of emerging great power competition. Danish military geography changed during the Cold War from a straits to a vulnerable flank. In the post-Cold War era, Denmark became a safe area at a long distance from expeditionary operations and is now emerging as a defendable staging area in the era of great power competition. This case shows that the military geography changed significantly with new technologies, strategies and the adversaries’ capabilities during the Cold War. We should likewise expect the military geography to be constantly changing in the new great power rivalry.

My goals in this paper are to elaborate further an approach to civil-military relations going beyond control to include effectiveness; and, to argue that outsourcing by the Department of Defense (DoD) results in opportunity costs making very difficult the implementation of the national security strategy of “great power competition.” The current acquisition authority for outsourcing impedes DoD accessing cutting-edge technology generated by “startups.” In an earlier era of strategic competition, the main US response was to create the National Aeronautics and Space Agency with a new acquisition authority – “other transaction authority” (OTA). In the National Defense Authorization Act of FY 2018 Congress stipulated that OTAs should be the preference for DoD in science and technology and prototyping, and education in OTAs be provided. This education has not been implemented. Consequently, a key element of the US great power competition strategy, which is the acquisition of new technology, goes wanting.

Abstract: Traditionally, geopolitical scholars focus on how great powers compete for influence over small states and how small states navigate such competition. This special issue endeavors to transcend the "great power–small state" framework and to reorient both states and quasi-states as critical actors of contemporary great power competition, using the Indo-Pacific and Eurasia as the research sites. It advances a comparative typology that encompasses the dynamics of great power competition across different ideal types of states and quasi-states, including small states, associated states, contested states, and territorial autonomies. By doing so, this special issue opens up a new agenda of investigating the interaction of states and quasi-states in international relations scholarship.

The Pivot to Asia first signaled and then the December 2017 US National Security Strategy ushered in the era of renewed great power competition, a global strategic environment in which great powers compete for influence and in which the leveraging of new and disruptive technologies, globalization, climate change and a global pandemic have added to the complexity and fluidity of strategic imperatives of nation states and alliances. The nature of war has remained the same, nevertheless, the character has evolved, perspectives on what constitutes war in its entire spectrum have taken on different meaning for different actors. One particularly complex dimension of great power conflict is cognitive warfare in all its manifestations. The article is looking to analyze the way the framing effect, a cognitive bias, has been leveraged as a means of perpetrating cognitive warfare in the Black Sea by reframing historical events of the last century in order to influence both individual and group beliefs and behaviors to favor or legitimize tactical as well as strategic objectives in great power competition.