21ST-CENTURY GEOPOLITICS: GREAT POWER COMPETITION AND THE RECONFIGURATION OF INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCES

Abstract

This article analyzes twenty-first-century geopolitics, focusing on competition among great powers and the reconfiguration of international alliances. The research adopts a qualitative, analytical-descriptive approach based on bibliographic and documentary research. It examines strategic competition among the United States, Russia, and China, identifies new cooperation arrangements and alliances, and analyzes their implications for the distribution of power and international governance. The argument is that intensified strategic competition does not necessarily produce a linear replacement of the existing international order, but contributes to the diversification of power centers, the flexibilization of alignments, and the formation of cooperation mechanisms parallel or complementary to traditional structures. In this context, the contemporary order is characterized by greater complexity, strategic competition, and the coexistence of different forms of international organization and influence.