Abstract

SANDOVAL CAREAGA, Daniela  and  ALEXEYEVICH KORNILOV, Alexander. Russia and the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. Norteamérica [online]. 2020, vol.15, n.2, pp.251-283.  Epub Oct 25, 2021. ISSN 2448-7228.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cisan.24487228e.2020.2.460.

Given the outlook for the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election, in which Donald Trump (Republican) seeks re-election, and Joe Biden is the Democratic Party candidate, questions arise regarding how the result may impact Russia internationally. The aim of this analysis is to study the fact that, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats win, for Russia the bilateral relationship with the United States will continue to be a challenge in geopolitical and security terms. If Trump is re-elected, U.S. foreign policy will follow the line of economic and political defensive measures and continue to retreat from geopolitical spaces and global leadership to guarantee his America First crosscutting theme. If Biden is elected, Russia will not lower its guard, because the Democrats seek to regain those lost or weakened spaces of leadership. To approach the topic, this article will first analyze how Russia situates itself in the twenty-first century, and this is related to its contemporary vision, geopolitical thinking, and strategy. Second, from a neorealist perspective, the authors examine what happened in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and why Russian meddling has been alleged. It is also necessary to look at the key concept of power and how Joseph Nye studies it from a global-power-shift perspective and how this relates to information technologies, exploring how it has been related to the so-called Gerasimov Doctrine. Third, the authors look at the geopolitical scenarios in which the U.S. and Russia have interests, agreements, and disagreements, since these will help explain the article’s overall aim.

Keywords : United States; Russia; 2020 elections; geopolitics; realism; security; power.

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