نقش قدرت هاي بزرگ در منطقه خليج فارس و چالش هاي هژموني امريكا

The Role of Great Powers in the Persian Gulf and Challenges to U.S. Hegemony

A number of theorists consider U.S. policy towards the Persian Gulf as in line with its efforts at gaining hegemonic status at the world level, given this regionʹs pivotal role in world politics. Nonetheless, the United States has faced serious challenges and obstacles to the consolidation of its hegemonic status in the Persian Gulf region in the post-Cold War era. Opposition of regional actors like Iran to U.S. hegemony and U.S. failure in such areas as Iraq are considered as obstacles to U.S. hegemony in the region. At the same time, other great powers, though they have close relations with the United States, are worried about the full superiority of an actor over all the others. Therefore, although balancing efforts in its hardware style are of no place in the great powersʹ strategies any more, software balancing attempts still continue. The main question this paper seeks to answer is how the great powers have reacted to U.S. hegemony-seeking behavior in the Persian Gulf in the post-Cold War era. Furthermore, what challenges U.S. hegemony-seeking conducts have been faced with in the Persian Gulf apart from the reactions of the great powers?