Border Disputes in the Global Periphery amid Declining U.S. Hegemonic Influence

The Case of Guyana and Venezuela

Abstract

Contrary to popular expectations about a post-oil future, oil remains an important commodity in the global political economy and the world-system, in which peripheral economies rely on the export of raw material to earn foreign exchange. We argue that Venezuela’s aggressive geopolitical stance against its smaller neighbor Guyana emanates from Guyana’s newfound oil discoveries resulting in fast economic development in Guyana, the Maduro regimes’ desire to distract from diminished internal legitimacy from the mismanagement of its own oil resources, the diminution of Venezuela’s status from the semi-periphery to the periphery within the world-system and the declining hegemonic power of the United States that must handle other expensive foreign conflicts, thereby giving Venezuela leverage in the region. As a hegemonic power, the United States is punishing Venezuela via sanctions and supporting its oil companies in controlling Guyanese oil reserves and making Guyana subservient to U.S. economic interest within the world-system. The world-system generates an inherent power imbalance among states, where the economic interests of multinational corporations of the core states take priority; but in addition, some peripheral states can threaten smaller peripheral states, putting the smaller peripheral states at an even greater disadvantage.