The great systemic clash: the intertwined crises of the Earth system and the capitalist world-system in the face of the reordering of global hegemony

This article advances the concept of the great systemic clash to theorize the convergence between the destabilization of the Earth system and the structural crisis of the capitalist world-system. Drawing on Earth system science and world-systems analysis, it argues these crises are co-constitutive dimensions of a structural impasse. The accumulation imperative of global capitalism – organized through imperial hierarchies and unequal exchange – accelerates ecological degradation while planetary destabilization undermines the foundations of accumulation, intensifying geopolitical rivalry and instability. The article distinguishes cyclical hegemonic transitions from the present conjuncture, in which the decline of the U.S. and the rise of China unfold under planetary boundaries. Unlike previous hegemonic reorganizations, the current reordering coincides with a biophysical destabilization threatening the conditions of capitalist reproduction. By foregrounding imperialism as the principal contradiction linking ecological breakdown and global inequality, the article calls for an antisystemic framework capable of confronting the world-historical character of this clash.