The Ideological Factor in Contemporary International Relations and Global Politics

Introduction. This article analyzes the role of the ideological factor in global politics during the formation of a multicentric world, in the context of the multi-vector nature and contradictory methods of analyzing the role of ideology in contemporary international relations in Western academic thought. In the context of Donald Trump's transition in the US Republican administration's foreign policy, following the start of the military operation against Iran in March 2026, from the "Make America Great Again" ideology to the ideological views of right-wing neoconservatism, the largely decisive influence of ideology on foreign policy and, ultimately, on international relations as a whole is revealed.

Materials and methods. In preparing this article, we employed structural-functional and comparative analysis, expert, statistical, formal-logical, and systemic methods, as well as a comparative-historical approach to a comprehensive interdisciplinary study of empirical data. This allows us, in the current context of a well-known rethinking of the role of ideology in world politics, to formulate a vision of the formation of an ideological basis for the processes underlying the emergence of a new architecture for a multicentric world order that is relevant to the times.

Research results. As an independent scientific discipline, the ideological analysis of international relations is still in its infancy. The lack of a comprehensive approach is primarily due to interparadigmatic disagreements—ontological, epistemological, methodological, and linguistic—which, to a certain extent, hinders the creation of a unified interdisciplinary research paradigm.

Discussion and conclusion. Research into the methods of understanding contemporary international relations has shown that ideology, regardless of its form and manifestations, is a fundamental element determining the dynamics of world politics. Without understanding the ideological subtext of states' actions, it is impossible to adequately analyze and predict their behavior on the global stage. Many currents of international thought, such as realism, liberalism, nationalism, conservatism, and neoconservatism, are directly or indirectly related to international relations, touching on fundamental concepts, including national interest, sovereignty, and power.

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