On September 18, the Valdai Club hosted a presentation of the report “Culture of Confrontation: Patterns of Competition Among Great Powers in the 21st Century.”
The current military-political landscape is defined by pervasive conflict, marked by the aggressive deployment of dual-use technologies and cyber warfare capabilities. Significant instability persists across numerous global regions. To prevent localized crises from escalating into large-scale military confrontations, a profound understanding of the mechanisms driving interstate rivalry is essential, as is the ability to identify the strategic models states employ in their confrontational approaches.
Some states focus on maintaining the initiative through predominantly offensive strategies. This approach enables rapid gains against weakened opponents but often proves ineffective in protracted conflicts. Conversely, other nations adopt a defensive and positional strategy. They deliberately cede the initiative, making temporary tactical concessions while simultaneously accumulating resources and gradually depleting the adversary’s potential – including through operations targeting their rear.
The report’s authors examined the confrontational strategies of diverse actors, including Germany, France, Turkey, Arab states, Iran, China, India, the states of the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and Southeast Asia. How varied are their approaches to rivalry? How are these national models evolving amid global transformation? And how do they align with the logic of state behaviour in the new strategic reality?
Speakers:
Gregory Simons, Professor of Journalism, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Evgenia Obichkina, Professor, Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy of Russia, MGIMO
Marina Sapronova, Professor, Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO
Adlan Margoev, Research Fellow at the Institute of International Studies, Lecturer at the Department of Oriental Studies, MGIMO
Zhang Xin, Associate Professor, School of Advanced International and Area Studies, East China Normal University
Moderator:
Andrey Sushentsov, Dean of the School of International Relations at MGIMO
Working languages: Russian, English.