نشریه مطالعات راهبردی آمریکا
پیاپی 7 (پاییز 1401)

The process of arms competition among the countries of the West Asian region has intensified in the last two decades to the extent that most of the economic incomes of the countries of this region have been spent on defense costs and weapons purchases; But in this competition, America has played a more prominent and important role than other world powers in this region. An important question that is raised in connection with this process is, what was the reason for the prominent role of America in increasing the arms race of West Asian countries? The results show that the United States, as a leading and hegemonic power, has defined the arms trade in West Asia in terms of domestic, regional and global goals, and the causes of the prominent role of the United States can be domestically due to the prosperity of the economy and the arms industry. At the regional level, as a result of the increasing deterrence power of the United States of West Asia against Iran, it includes justifying its presence in West Asia to gain regional hegemony, forming its desired order to dominate the region and fight against terrorism, and at the international level, maintaining and promoting his hegemony in competition with great powers. The theoretical framework of this article is designed based on the theory of neo-realism and the concepts of defense economy. And by using the library method, he collected the data and analyzed them with a descriptive-analytical approach.

During the post-Cold War era, the ground was set for the growth of regional powers in a multipolar world. One of these regions is the Southeast Asia which encompasses China South Sea, which is considered as a geopolitical basin. The geographical location of the South Sea of China is strategically important as it is believed that huge oil and natural gas reserves lie beneath its seabed. Moreover, China South Sea is the habitat of a large number of aquatic plants and animals. China's economic rise and rapid growth in recent decades, the South China Sea has become a hotbed of conflict between coastal neighbors, regional organizations, as well as extraterritorial powers. It is probable that international relations and the traditional US-led traditional order in East Asia change as an important consequence of emerging a power in the East. This study seeks to explain the concepts and sources of power in international relations and examine the conflict of power between the United States and China in the South China Sea Basin. This paper has answered with a qualitative approach and studying documents with a descriptive-analytical manner whether Chinese sovereignty over the South China Sea paves the way for the decline of traditional US hegemony in the region. The findings of this study indicate that China's rapid growth and increase in military power and the exercise of monopoly power over the South Sea of China have led to strong opposition from neighboring countries and supra-regional powers. This opposition will be a challenge for any peaceful transfer of power in the region.

Many thinkers believe that America's economic power is declining, yet others do not believe in it and see it as an exaggeration. The multiplicity of opposing views on the trend of US economic power has necessitated a comprehensive review of key components of US domestic and international economic power and its evaluation over time. The present study, while evaluating and identifying key components of US economic power, examines the time trend of its changes nationally and internationally. The method used to identify the components of economic power is content analysis and the method of evaluating over time is simple statistical analysis. The results obtained from the content analysis method show that economic power is a multidimensional concept that includes several components, and , it is necessary to distinguish between relative power and absolute power. The results of statistical analysis indicate strong and clear evidence of a decline in US relative power nationally and internationally, but US absolute power is a function of the degree of importance and weights assigned to the variables used to measure economic power. Accordingly, although the relative strength of the United States has declined sharply, the US economy is still one of the leading and most powerful economies in the world, which is rapidly declining due to risks such as economic inequalities, successive crises and the entry of new competitors in the world.

In the current situation of the international system, the competition between America, China and Russia has increased at the geostrategic level. These competitions have affected the international system at different levels and dimensions of geopolitical regions. The main question of the research is why the competition between America, Russia and China has increased in the geopolitical areas of the international system? To answer this question, it can be said that although the competition between America, Russia and China in the regions of the international system is caused by the attempt to penetrate the regions and gain material benefits such as energy, but in this research, the conflict and clash of governance patterns as one of the The most important causes of geopolitical faults are considered. The research method is qualitative and document study with an explanatory and analytical approach, and the method of collecting data and information is library. According to the findings of this research, the competition of the United States with China and Russia has increased under the influence of governance patterns arising from the cultural foundations of identity-giving in the geopolitical faults of West Asia, East Asia and West Asia in political, economic, military and technological dimensions.

Since the incident of September 11, 2001, the United States has changed its security strategies and based the war on terrorism by leaving the defensive mode. Relying on the fact that the power of countries depends on the importance of the areas under their influence, America changed its security strategy to aggressive realism and preemptive aggression by attacking Afghanistan. In response to the question, what were the consequences of the American security strategy in Afghanistan (2002-2020)? This hypothesis was proposed that the American security strategy in Afghanistan, based on the policy of balancing and preemptive aggression, had negative consequences for this country. In this regard, John Mearsheimer's aggressive realism was used as a theoretical framework, and information was collected qualitatively using library sources and analyzed using a descriptive-analytical method. The results showed that the American military presence in Afghanistan was based on pre-emptive aggression and balancing policy against competing powers, and this policy did not only lead to confronting terrorist groups, organizing military-security forces, reducing civil war and improving Afghanistan's national security. , but also added to the amount of terrorist acts, the amount of human casualties and overall poverty and insecurity in this country. In fact, America's security strategy in Afghanistan has been in the framework of balancing power and preventing the emergence of a dominator and durability in the international system.

After the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the goals and capabilities of the United States directly and indirectly affect Iran, which can be seen in the analysis of the five categories of strategic and national security documents of the United States at the macro level that have been published over the years is, obtained Good observation. From this procedure, this research is an analytical description of the type of case study that examines the topic under consideration with the method of analysis and qualitative analysis. The statistical population of this research includes 42 official documents and one temporary document of American national security, which was published by the government in 2021. In examining these documents, what becomes certain is that the United States has changed its strategy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran in all these years, which has always been the overthrow of this system to change This performance is more or less evident in America's foreign behavior. The approaches of the American presidents during the presidential periods of Bush Sr. and Clinton were mostly based on soft power and, of course, to some extent hard, Bush Jr.'s period was mostly based on hard power and to some extent also soft, Obama's period was based on the application of smart power, a combination of hard and soft. Trump's era is based on hard power and Biden's era that we are facing today is based on soft and intelligent power.