The phenomenon of unfriendly multilateralism inside the “collective” West

Abstract

The article examines the evolution of multilateralism on the examples of its unfriendly variety in political sphere. The study focuses not on the relations between the West and non-West, but on the situation inside the former. The examples of unfriendly multilateral structures are AUKUS and the Partners in the Blue Pacific. They are aimed not only at containing China but also at limiting the strategic penetration of Germany and France in the Indo-Pacific region. Concentrating on these examples, the article explores the key reason for the tendency, using the concept of the world-system theory for Euro-Atlantic community and the “collective” West. The core of Anglo-Saxon countries led by the USA and the UK has been strongly concerned of the growing strategic autonomy of the semi-periphery. Its key elements are France and Germany. The study demonstrates the differences between leadership styles, hard and soft hegemony in the US foreign policy as a reaction to the relations between the core and the semi-periphery. It also covers German approach to the EU strategic autonomy in conjunction with Europeanization of NATO and its activities in various fields. One of the conclusions is the absence of examples of unfriendly multilateralism toward the Western partners in policy of key semi-periphery actors.