Soft Balancing and the Challenges to U.S. Hegemony in the Persian Gulf after September 11

Abstract

The geopolitical transformations following the September 11, 2001 attacks ushered the foreign policy of the United States in the Persian Gulf into a new phase. This phase was characterized by the expansion of military interventions, the redefinition of threats, and efforts to reconfigure the regional order. This redefinition pushed the logic of U.S. domination beyond the traditional framework of hard power and sought to consolidate hegemony through a combination of military, economic, and cultural instruments. In response to this multilayered dominance, regional and extra-regional actors increasingly turned to indirect strategies, commonly referred to in the international relations literature as “soft balancing,” rather than engaging in direct confrontation. This article, focusing on the concept of soft balancing, examines the emergence of non-military, diplomatic, and media-based forms of resistance to U.S. hegemony in the Persian Gulf. The theoretical framework integrates offensive realism, hegemonic stability theory, and soft power theory. The research method is qualitative and analytical, drawing on credible scholarly sources. The findings indicate that soft balancing, as an emerging strategy, has partially shifted the region’s geopolitical landscape away from unilateral domination and facilitated a transition toward a multipolar order. This transformation has not only generated challenges for the continuation of U.S. hegemony but has also created opportunities for independent regional actors.