In the early twenty-first century, the international order entered a period of turbulence. The Ukraine War exposed the limits of US-led hegemony and accelerated geopolitical and geoeconomic realignments. This book argues that the war and the sanctions regime have acted as an antisystemic imperative, fostering alternative coalitions, currency diversification, and greater autonomy across the Global South.

Drawing on World-Systems Analysis and Classical and Critical Geopolitics, it explains strategies of contestation through a typology of proactive and active states. It examines the Russia–China partnership, BRICS/BRICS Plus, cyberspace and narrative warfare, while highlighting Brazil’s semiperipheral position between Western institutions and autonomy.

With clarity and analytical rigor, Geopolitics and World-Systems in a Bifurcating Order offers a Global South perspective on what comes after US hegemony?

Charles Pennaforte is a Brazilian scholar of Geopolitics and World-Systems Analysis and professor at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), where he coordinates the Geopolitics, International Relations, and Antisystemic Movements Laboratory (LabGRIMA). He holds a PhD in International Relations from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Argentina. His research focuses on hegemonic transition, the Global South, and BRICS.