RISING POWERS AND THE LIMITS OF US HEGEMONY: A NEOREALIST ANALYSIS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STRATEGIC RESISTANCE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/ShodhSamajik.v3.i2.2026.146Keywords:
Us Hegemony, Multipolarity, Russia, Ukraine, BRICS, NeorealismAbstract
This article argues that rising powers can do challenge US hegemony not directly through direct military action but by institutional, economic strategies based in national interest. The post Cold War international system was described as unipolar but there was some space created for hegemonic resistance because of shifts in economic power, declining trust in western led economic institutions and increasing resistance to US agenda setting. Based on Neorealist thought, this essay examines why and how rising powers try to challenge the US hegemony by reducing dependency on US led institutions and creating alternatives. The argument is developed through two empirical case studies, the BRICS grouping as an example of institutional and financial challenge to the US and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a case of direct resistance to US led security order. All together, these cases show that the US hegemony which is still significant is facing contest in practice.
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