D. Trump’s Geostrategic Turn: Motives, Content and Probable Consequences

The author has attempted, using the methods of political analysis, to identify in a seemingly chaotic series of initiatives of the new D. Trump’s administration, the so far latent trends of a fundamental reversal – in a number of important directions – of the geopolitical strategy of the United States (which is essentially a bid for a global geopolitical revolution). The author develops a hypothesis according to which the Trump team is proceeding from the possession of a kind of mandate to implement an advanced adaptation of the U.S. hegemonic potential to the tectonic transformation of the world order that has already begun. The key elements of such an adaptation are a radical revision of the previous configuration of the sphere of unconditional strategic interests of the United States and the proactively adopted self-limitation of this sphere to only a part of the global space while rejecting claims to global and total control over the aggregate processes of global development. The arrangement of such a partial sphere of interests presupposes guarantees, firstly, the full provision of the USA with resources for development, secondly, the loyalty of the political and administrative elites of the states oriented towards the USA, thirdly, territorial control of key transport and communication hubs and military-strategic position areas. This triune of tasks seems to be the basis of the goal-setting of the new administration. The final result, imputed to it as a guideline, coupled with the mandate for power acquired by Trump, is the formation of an updated model for the mobilization of U.S. development resources, which will mitigate the consequences of the intensification and consolidation of the activities of obvious and potential opportunistic powers that limit the free access of Western countries to global resources. In the final part of the article, the author discusses the main risks and probable consequences of the U.S.-promoted geostrategic turn, noting the growing likelihood of segmentation of the global market, the global communications system, and the global political and legal space.