Geopolitical Thinking behind the US Policy-Making toward China and the Diplomatic Choice of Japan

The roots of US policy toward China are laid in the geopolitical thinking mode of its strategic culture. This mode of thinking first originated in Britain and later evolved into geopolitics. Bearing such thoughts, the United States sees China as a country at the southeastern rim of the Eurasian continent, and the rise of China is a threat to its dominance as a maritime state in the Eurasian continent. No matter the rotation of governing parties in the United States, containing the development of China is not merely an expedient for electoral politics but an inevitable choice for maritime states to contain continental states and an objectively necessary national security strategy aimed at retaining the global hegemony of the United States. As China further develops, such intention will become more and more apparent. In order to achieve the goal of slowing down China’s development pace and maintaining US’s political dominance over Eurasia, it seems that the United States has to build a maritime alliance system. The alliance between Japan and the United States will be further strengthened since Japan is a strategic pivot of this system. However, Japan’s perception of interests and strategic thinking are not fully aligned with those of the United States, and as a result, Japan will choose strategies with a certain degree of autonomy, thus eventually limiting the implementation of US’s geopolitical strategies. From the viewpoints of power transfer, geopolitics and ideology for the confrontation between maritime and continental states, this paper focuses on the limitations of the geopolitical thinking behind US’s policy-making toward China and the relatively autonomous strategy of Japan to analyze the status quo and underlying trends of China–US–Japan relations.

Biden’s China Policy: Old Wine in New Bottles?

The Biden Administration has accepted the Trump Administration’s definition of China as a ‘strategic competitor’, and has retained Trump’s tariffs, the ‘Quad’, and the upgrade in Taiwan’s protocol status. But Biden’s China policy is different from Trump’s in being truly strategic. The key elements of that strategy are focused on improving the United States’ competitiveness domestically and in international affairs; cooperation with allies and partners; an emphasis on human rights; partial decoupling of economic and technology relationships; and a search for some areas of cooperation with China. Success for the Biden strategy would consist neither of bottling up China in its current global power position nor in achieving a negotiated condominium in Asia. The Biden Administration would succeed if the United States can maintain its alliance system, keep a robust military presence in East Asia and prevent the forcible integration of Taiwan into China while avoiding major war. Several features of the China challenge make it reasonable to hope that such success is possible.

Emerging New Alliance System in Middle East and Implications for Gulf Cooperation Council

Ideological factor has always remained the corner stone in the formation of alliances and regional politics of Middle East. Recent years have seen a drastic shift in the traditional politics of Middle East. Qatar Crisis highlighted a wedge within the GCC framework. Meanwhile; Qatar's tilt towards Iran and the Saudi's aggressive policies uncovered the rise of new dynamism. The study uses the theoretical assumptions of Structural Realism to draw conclusions about Qatar, Iran and Turkey's behaviour. However; the data is gathered through both Primary and Secondary sources. Political environment of Middle East is undergoing a significant shift by emergence of new alliances which are not directed by sectarian divide. Iran- Qatar- Turkey Troika has emerged as a new pole and in better position than Saudi Arabia and UAE. The Sunni bloc is seen declining as not only Qatar, but Oman and Kuwait also pursuing the policy of hedging towards Iran. The study aims to explore factors that led to engagement between Iran and Qatar, impact of Iran-Qatar relations on GCC and the emerging Iran, Qatar and Turkey alliance and its implications on the Middle East.

La cuestión marítima en la estrategia geopolítica de Carvajal y Ensenada = The Maritime Issue Within Carvajal and Ensenada’s Geo-Political Strategy

José de Carvajal y Zenón de Somodevilla emergieron como los principales artífices de la política exterior española en una extraña coyuntura internacional. En 1748 las cancillerías de todo el continente emprendieron negociaciones en aras de la paz, ya que las potencias europeas precisaban tiempo para recuperar fuerzas tras tan larga guerra. Fue en semejante contexto en el que los dos ministros desarrollaron su geoestrategia. Pese a sus diferencias, ambos estadistas pretendieron garantizar la posición de España como gran potencia europea, del mismo modo que comprendieron que, en adelante, el equilibrio europeo se vería condicionado por la supremacía marítima y colonial.AbstractJosé de Carvajal and Zenón de Somodevilla emerged as the main architects of Spanish foreign policy amidst the strained international climate of the mid-eighteenth century. In 1748, foreign affairs offices across Europe engaged in conversations surrounding peace as they sought time to regain strength after such a long war. It was within the context of this nascent alliance system that Carvajal and Somodevilla developed their geo-political strategy. In spite of their differences, both statesmen tried to guarantee Spain’s position as a major European power and understood that, going forward, European political balance would be determined by colonial and maritime supremacy.

Anti-corruption protests, alliance system and political polarization

The fight against corruption has become, in recent years, one of the main international causes. Many studies have been done on the effects and consequences of corrupt and corrupting practices for the political system and for the general society. However, there are still few who are dedicated to analyzing the conditions and dynamics of the fight against corruption as a public and international cause and its consequences and impacts on national political systems. Therefore, the objective of this article is to examine the emergence and spread of anti-corruption movements and protests in Brazil, between 2013 and 2018. I aim to demonstrate that the emergence and development of anti-corruption protests and mobilizations in this period are related to the crisis and collapse of the “alliance system” between the main political leaders and organizations, becoming a political resource to recompose and change such alignments. This analysis shows the relevance of the “political dimension” to understand the process of emergence and the development of protests and mobilizations against corruption.