Entering “neomahanean” world: Contemporary maritime rivalry of China and the United States

Abstract

The author uses Mahan?s sea power concept in order to determine its contemporary geopolitical significance compared to land power. The main thesis of the paper is that international relations - after a century long dominance of land power - are entering a new era of primary significance of sea power, due a rivalry of China and the United States, which is predestined to be mostly maritime. This is the consequence of contemporary globalization, which made biggest world economies dependent on uninterrupted sea commerce, as well as of the unique geopolitical position of China, which neither faces important land challenges, nor can pose them. Arms race and changes in maritime strategies show that the competition at sea between the U.S. and China has already started. Which direction and tempo it shall take depends on whether the U.S. abandons its hegemonic policy in favour of a defensive one, and adequately uses sea power in service of the latter.

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