Superordination and subordination in international relations – geopolitics of hegemony and subjection

Abstract

The starting point for the analysis is the relationship between geopolitics
and globalization, which seem to be crucial in explaining the contemporary
international reality. Great superpowers, which are the pillars of globalization
processes, promote their values, but at the same time miss no opportunity
and do not lose their willpower to enter new domains of influence, often
at the expense of their partners or contractors. A major change in understanding
world geopolitics lies in the fact that the centre of gravity of power
is shifting from the West to the East and South. Simultaneously, a “great
reconvergence” of the East and the West is underway, involving efforts to
create a counterweight to the U.S. by such powers as China or Russia. All
this means that the post-Cold War international order is still in transition,
and it is marked by polycentrism and interpolarity, and even a decline of
polarity understood traditionally. With regard to the scale of power, there is
a hierarchical and heterarchical diversity of participants, while the principles
that govern the functioning of the international system as a whole are coordination
and its derivatives – superordination and subordination.