MultiHub Forum

I'm a graduate student in international relations trying to understand the shifting dynamics of great power competition, particularly how economic interdependence is being weaponized through sanctions, export controls, and strategic investments in critical infrastructure. The traditional frameworks of realism and liberalism seem inadequate to explain the current hybrid strategies where states are simultaneously deeply integrated in global supply chains yet engaging in what looks like economic warfare. For analysts and scholars, what are the most useful theoretical lenses or emerging concepts to make sense of this new phase of geopolitics? Are there specific regions or case studies, like semiconductor supply chains or energy politics in the Eastern Mediterranean, that best illustrate these complex, multi-domain competitions, and how do you assess the long-term sustainability of decoupling efforts versus a re-globalization under new rules?