The Russo-Ukrainian War and Great Power Competition

In this chapter, I examine the implications of the Russo-Ukrainian war for the evolution of great power politics and the reconfiguration of regional orders across the globe. The chapter begins by unpacking the contending theoretical and political interpretations of the war’s origins and of Russia’s revisionist turn in foreign policy—ranging from systemic explanations emphasizing power transition and security dilemmas, to domestic and ideational accounts highlighting regime type, identity narratives, and elite legitimation strategies. I then situate the conflict within broader transformations of the post–Cold War order, arguing that the war represents not only a regional contest over Ukraine’s sovereignty and alignment, but also a critical juncture in the erosion of the liberal international order and the emergence of more fragmented, competitive, and hierarchically structured regional systems. Building on this discussion, the chapter explores how the war reshapes power relations across key regions—the Euro-Atlantic, Indo-Pacific, and Eurasian spaces—by accelerating patterns of bloc formation, decoupling, and strategic alignment. It shows how the war’s global reverberations extend beyond military balances, influencing energy markets, technological standards, and the institutional architecture of international governance. Finally, I reflect on the implications for the study of great power politics: the need to integrate relational and regional perspectives into analyses of systemic change, and to understand how coercion, resilience, and legitimacy interact in sustaining or contesting orders under stress.