Source：Forum of World Economics & Politics, No.6, 2025

Abstract：In the context of great powers strategic competition, the United States increasingly relies on non-military means, such as economic sanctions, to maintain its hegemony. The maturity of the U.S. sanctions system and the enhancement of its sanctions capabilities have made economic sanctions a “conventional weapon.” The United States imposes sanctions of varying intensity on different types of countries, and these policies interact with each other, forming a complex sanctions network aimed at the enemy of hegemony. There is a structural contradiction between the ambition of hegemony to secure privileged status and the instinct of other states to pursue national autonomy, and the “hegemony maintenance” by the United States has led to a “network of sanctions”. U.S. economic sanctions are “universal but distinctive”: symbolic sanctions are usually imposed on countries that have no intention of challenging the U.S. hegemonic position in terms of norms or capabilities; bargaining sanctions are imposed on countries that challenge U.S. hegemony on any level of norms or capability; and exhaustive sanctions are imposed on countries that attempt to challenge the U.S. hegemonic position in both dimensions. Evidence from Germany, Türkiye, and Russia supports these propositions. This study reveals that the occurrence of sanctions can be understood through the conflict between material and/or ideational structures among countries. Such a shift in theoretical perspective helps uncover new variables, mechanisms, and circumstances, thereby contributing to cumulative knowledge in the research on economic sanctions.