The Second Cold War: US-China Competition for Centrality in Infrastructure, Digital, Production, and Finance Networks

Relations between the US and China have deteriorated to their lowest point since rapprochement in 1970s. To make sense of contemporary geopolitics, our objective this article is two-fold. First, we historically situate US-China rivalry conceptualise Second Cold War (SCW). We argue that wake 2008 financial crisis, both launched ‘restorative’ political projects harked back imagined pasts. These are mutually exclusive animate geopolitics. Second, spatial logic great power War. In contrast first War, when powers sought incorporate territory into blocs, currently compete on a global scale for centrality four interrelated networks they anticipate will underpin hegemony 21st century: infrastructure (e.g. logistics energy), digital, production finance. review state competition each network draw two broad conclusions: (1) mode makes it difficult either side conclusively ‘win’ (2) many countries likely remain integrated with China.