The United States and Regional Great Power Rivalry: Can America Still Pass the Mearsheimer test?

Speaker: Dr. Mark Katz (Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University)

Date: 25 July 2023

Speaker Session Summary

International relations (IR) experts widely perceive the US global political influence to be in a decline, especially in regions farther from the US. However, state actors who are gaining influence in their home regions are experiencing their own geopolitical roadblocks. Dr. Katz highlighted the past work of IR theorist, John Mearsheimer, who created a standard for measuring an actor’s great power strength and influence in regions across the world. Dr. Mearsheimer’s work argues that the US is the only nation to achieve hegemony in one region (the Western Hemisphere) and be able to prevent any other great power from gaining hegemony in any other region. Dr. Katz argued that the question is no longer if the US can grow its own geopolitical influence in regions, but if it can keep its adversaries from increasing theirs.

Dr. Katz emphasized that there is not a definitive answer to how the US can hinder an adversary from gaining political control over a single region. However, a significant indicator of whether the US will have the ability to decrease an adversary’s political influence in any given region is whether other actors in that region are hostile to the US adversary. If these countries believe the US can offset the adversary’s rising power, then it is likely that the US will have a much better chance to stop the adversary from achieving regional dominance. The FIIA Working Paper goes into detail for each global subregion, their current political dynamics, and whether the US can defend its current political influence. 

Speaker Session Recording

Briefing Materials

Biography: Mark N. Katz is a Professor of Government and Politics at the George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government. He is also the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He writes on Russian foreign and security policy, great power competition, and the international relations of revolution.