Economic Resilience as a Strategic Resource: The Impact of Financial Capitalism on National Security and Leadership

Abstract

The article offers a critical analysis of the interrelationship between state economic structures and strategic leadership in the context of national security. Particular attention is devoted to the rentier character of contemporary financial capitalism, systematized in connection with the research of Michael Hudson – an American economist and economic historian known for his criticism of transnational financial structures – regarding the state’s ability to formulate and implement long-term strategic policies, as well as the mechanisms through which rent revenues erode the sovereign processes of decision-making. Based on the strategic visions presented by authoritative international scholars and practitioners – Henry Kissinger, Joseph Nye, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Samuel Huntington – conceptual models for adaptive leadership under conditions of geoeconomic turbulence are formulated. Through the addition of the knowledge economy – in the light of the conceptual contributions of Prof. D.Sc. (Econ.) Stoyan Denchev – an interdisciplinary framework is proposed that expands the understanding of sustainable strategic leadership as a function not only of political will but also of the ability for intelligent management of resources, innovations, and national assets. The Bulgarian constellation of factors is examined as the subject of the empirical study, illustrating the challenges of dependence on external capital and the formation of strategic leadership under conditions of institutional vulnerability and global dependencies. Priority is given to the perspectives for structural transformation through the establishment of digital and economic sovereignty by means of precisely defined leadership policies and strategies.