Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Conceptualising Emerging Powers

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Handbooks in IPE ((PHIPE))

Abstract

What, exactly, is an emerging power? While empirical scholarship-discussing states such as Brazil, India, or China have blossomed over the past 20 years, little attention has been paid to conceptualising these states. This creates confusion about emerging powers themselves as well as their impact on global affairs. I argue that systematic study of three factors—growing material (especially economic) capabilities, diplomatic ambitions, and peer recognition by others—will enable us to overcome the contemporary conceptual problems of coherence and differentiation. Doing so will require scholars of international political economy to re-evaluate theoretical assumptions embedded in today’s literature. It will also empower us to better contribute to policy discussions of emerging states. These arguments are illustrated in reference to emerging power activities in global economic governance.

This research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG-German Research Foundation), project number 369896954. Thanks go to Andrew Cooper, Miles Kahler, Timothy Shaw and participants at ISA 2017 for comments on previous versions of this chapter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The literature reviewed in this section discusses the same phenomenon—the rise of EPs like Brazil, India, or China—but does so with the help of different terminology. In addition to ‘emerging powers,’ monikers reviewed include emerging markets, emerging market economies, emerging economies, emerging countries, emerging middle powers, emerging market powers, rising powers, would-be great powers, second-tier states, intermediate countries, and new powers.

  2. 2.

    As Hopewell (2016) points out, this is a very high bar for identifying a state as established.

References

  • Abdenur, Adriana Erthal. 2015. Brazil as a Rising Power: Coexistence Through Universalism. In The BRICS and Coexistence: An Alternative Vision of World Order, ed. Cedric De Coning, Thomas Mandrup, and Liselotte Odgaard, 49–74. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abdenur, Adriana Erthal, and Maiara Folly. 2015. The New Development Bank and the Institutionalization of the BRICS. Revolution 3 (1): 66–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Acharya, Amitav. 2014. The End of American World Order. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armijo, Leslie Elliot. 2007. The BRICs Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) as Analytical Category: Mirage or Insight? Asian Perspective 31 (4): 7–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armijo, Leslie Elliot, and Saori N. Katada. 2014. Theorizing the Financial Statecraft of Emerging Powers. New Political Economy: 20 (1): 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armijo, Leslie Elliot, and Cynthia Roberts. 2014. The Emerging Powers and Global Governance: Why the BRICS Matter. In Handbook of Emerging Economies, ed. Robert Looney, 503–524. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, David J., and John A. Quelch. 1998. New Strategies in Emerging Markets. MIT Sloan Management Review, October 15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barma, Naazneen, Ely Ratner, and Steven Weber. 2007. A World Without the West. The National Interest 90: 23–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bremmer, Ian, and Nouriel Roubini. 2011. A G-Zero World: The New Economic Club Will Produce Conflict, Not Cooperation. Foreign Affairs 90 (2): 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chin, Gregory. 2013. The Economic Diplomacy of the Rising Powers. In The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy, ed. Andrew Fenton, 881–900. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, Andrew F. 2014. The G20 and Contested Global Governance: BRICS, Middle Powers and Small States. Caribbean Journal of International Relations & Diplomacy 2 (3): 87–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, Andrew F., and Asif B. Farooq. 2015. Testing the Club Dynamics of the BRICS: The New Development Bank from Conception to Establishment. International Organizations Research Journal 10 (2): 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, Andrew F., and Daniel Flemes. 2013. Foreign Policy Strategies of Emerging Powers in a Multipolar World: An Introductory Review. Third World Quarterly 34 (6): 943–962.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Coning, Cedric, Thomas Mandrup, and Liselotte Odgaard, eds. 2015. The BRICS and Coexistence. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Destradi, Sandra. 2016. Reluctance in International Politics: A Conceptualization. European Journal of International Relations: 23 (2): 315–340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drezner, Daniel W. 2007. The New New World Order. Foreign Affairs 86 (2): 34–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Efstathopoulos, Charalampos. 2012. Leadership in the WTO: Brazil, India and the Doha Development Agenda. Cambridge Review of International Affairs 25 (2): 269–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fonseca, Pedro Cezar Dutra, Lucas de Oliveira Paes, and André Moreira Cunha. 2016. The Concept of Emerging Power in International Politics and Economy. Brazilian Journal of Political Economy 36 (1): 46–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedberg, Aaron L. 2005. The Future of U.S.-China Relations: Is Conflict Inevitable? International Security 30 (2): 7–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garten, Jeffrey E. 1997. The Big Ten: The Big Emerging Markets and How They Will Change Our Lives. New York: Harper Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerring, John. 1999. What Makes a Concept Good? A Criterial Framework for Understanding Concept Formation in the Social Sciences. Polity 31 (3): 357–393.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goertz, Gary. 2005. Social Science Concepts: A User’s Guide. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harmer, Andrew, and Kent Buse. 2014. The BRICS – A Paradigm Shift in Global Health? Contemporary Politics 20 (2): 127–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopewell, Kristen. 2015. Different Paths to Power: The Rise of Brazil, India and China at the World Trade Organization. Review of International Political Economy 22 (2): 311–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. Breaking the WTO: How Emerging Powers Disrupted the Neoliberal Project. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huotari, Mikko, and Thilo Hanemann. 2014. Emerging Powers and Change in the Global Financial Order. Global Policy 5 (3): 298–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurrell, Andrew. 2006. Hegemony, Liberalism and Global Order: What Space for Would-Be Great Powers? International Affairs 82 (1): 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikenberry, G. John. 2008. The Rise of China and the Future of the West. Foreign Affairs 87 (1): 23–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordaan, Eduard. 2003. The Concept of a Middle Power in International Relations: Distinguishing Between Emerging and Traditional Middle Powers. Politikon 30 (2): 165–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahler, Miles. 2013. Rising Powers and Global Governance: Negotiating Change in a Resilient Status Quo. International Affairs 89 (3): 711–729.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Paul. 1988. The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. London: Unwin Hyman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khanna, Parag. 2009. The Second World. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Sung Eun, and Johannes Urpelainen. 2015. Rising Regional Powers Meet the Global Leader: A Strategic Analysis of Influence Competition. International Political Science Review 36 (2): 214–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirton, John J. 2015. Going Global: The G8’s Adaptation to Rising Powers. In Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions, ed. Dries Lesage and Thijs Van de Graaf, 117–131. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirton, John, Julia Kulik, and Caroline Bracht. 2014. Generating Global Health Governance Through BRICS Summitry. Contemporary Politics 20 (2): 146–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kose, M. Ayan, and Eswar S. Prasad. 2010. Emerging Markets: Resilience and Growth Amid Global Turmoil. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavenex, Sandra, and Omar Serrano. 2016. From Rule-Takers to Rule-Makers? Patterns of Adaptation, Contestation and Initiative among Emerging Powers in the World Trade Regime. In SNIS Working Paper: Swiss Network for International Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lesage, Dries, and Thijs Van de Graaf. 2015a. Analytical Framework and Findings. In Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions, ed. Dries Lesage and Thijs Van de Graaf, 3–18. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———, eds. 2015b. Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions. International Political Economy Series. Ed. Timothy M. Shaw. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lesage, Dries, Peter Debaere, Sacha Dierckx, and Mattias Vermeiren. 2013. IMF Reform After the Crisis. International Politics 50 (4): 553–578.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2015. Rising Powers and IMF Governance Reform. In Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions, ed. Dries Lesage and Thijs Van de Graaf, 153–174. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lima, Maria Regina Soares de, and Mônica Hirst. 2006. Brazil as an Intermediate State and Regional Power: Action, Choice and Responsibilities. International Affairs 82 (1): 21–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macfarlane, S. Neil. 2006. The ‘R’ in BRICs: Is Russia an Emerging Power? International Affairs 82 (1): 41–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahrenbach, Laura Carsten. 2015. Deconstructing ‘Emerging Powers’ and ‘Emerging Markets’: India and the United States in Global Governance. India Quarterly 71 (4): 348–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazenda, Adrino, and Ronney Ncwadi. 2016. The Rise of BRICS Development Finance Institutions: A Comprehensive Look into the New Development Bank and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement. African East-Asian Affairs (3): 96–123. http://aeaa.journals.ac.za/pub/issue/archive.

  • Mearsheimer, John J. 2006. China’s Unpeaceful Rise. Current History 105 (690): 160–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Manjari Chatterjee. 2016. The Role of Beliefs in Identifying Rising Powers. Chinese Journal of International Politics: 9 (2): 211–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelman, James H. 2013. Global Bricolage: Emerging Market Powers and Polycentric Governance. Third World Quarterly 34 (1): 23–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muhr, Thomas. 2016. Beyond ‘BRICS’: Ten Theses on South–South Cooperation in the Twenty-First Century. Third World Quarterly 37 (4): 630–648.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narlikar, Amrita. 2010a. New Powers in the Club: The Challenges of Global Trade Governance. International Affairs 86 (3): 717–728.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010b. New Powers: How to Become One and How to Manage Them. London: Hurst & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Introduction: Negotiating the Rise of New Powers. International Affairs 89 (3): 561–576.

    Google Scholar 

  • NDB. 2017. NDB’s General Strategy: 2017–2021. Shanghai: New Development Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nel, Philip, and Ian Taylor. 2013. Bugger Thy Neighbour? IBSA and South-South Solidarity. Third World Quarterly 34 (6): 1091–1110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pant, Harsh V. 2013. The BRICS Fallacy. The Washington Quarterly 36 (3): 91–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patrick, Stewart. 2010. Irresponsible Stakeholders? The Difficulty of Integrating Rising Powers. Foreign Affairs 89 (6): 44–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramamurti, Ravi, and Jitendra V. Singh, eds. 2009. Emerging Multinationals in Emerging Markets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sartori, Giovanni. 1984/2009. Guidelines for Concept Analysis. In Concepts and Method in Social Science: The Tradition of Giovanni Sartori, ed. David Collier and John Gerring, 97–150. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schirm, Stefan A. 2010. Leaders in Need of Followers: Emerging Powers in Global Governance. European Journal of International Relations 16 (2): 197–221.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2013. Global Politics Are Domestic Politics: A Societal Approach to Divergence in the G20. Review of International Studies 39 (3): 685–706.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwab, Susan C. 2011. After Doha: Why the Negotiations Are Doomed and What We Should Do About It. Foreign Affairs 90: 104–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, James, and Rorden Wilkinson. 2015. China as a System Preserving Power in the WTO. In Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions, ed. Dries Lesage and Thijs Van de Graaf, 199–218. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, Ruchir. 2014. The Ever-Emerging Markets: Why Economic Forecasts Fail. Foreign Affairs 93 (1): 52–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, Timothy M., Andrew F. Cooper, and Agata Antkiewicz. 2007. Global and/or Regional Development at the Start of the 21st Century? China, India and (South) Africa. Third World Quarterly 28 (7): 1255–1270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straubhaar, Joseph. 2015. BRICS as Emerging Cultural and Media Powers. In Mapping BRICS Media, ed. Kaarle Nordenstreng and Daya Kishan Thussu, 87–103. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuenkel, Oliver. 2014. Emerging Powers and Status: The Case of the First Brics Summit. Asian Perspective 38 (1): 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2016. The BRICS: Seeking Privileges by Constructing and Running Multilateral Institutions. Global Summitry 2 (1): 38–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Agtmael, Antoine. 1984. Emerging Securities Markets: Investment Banking Opportunities in the Developing World. London: Euromoney Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanaik, Achin. 2013. Capitalist Globalisation and the Problem of Stability: Enter the New Quintet and Other Emerging Powers. Third World Quarterly 34 (2): 194–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vestergaard, Jakob, and Robert H. Wade. 2015. Protecting Power: How Western States Retain Their Dominant Voice in the World Bank’s Governance. In Rising Powers and Multilateral Institutions, ed. Dries Lesage and Thijs Van de Graaf, 175–196. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vezirgiannidou, Sevasti-Eleni. 2013. The United States and Rising Powers in a Post-Hegemonic Global Order. International Affairs 89 (3): 635–651.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, Rorden. 2014. ‘Emerging’ Powers and the Governance of Global Trade. In Handbook of the International Political Economy of Governance, ed. Anthony Payne and Nicola Phillips, 184–200. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woods, Ngaire. 2010. Global Governance After the Financial Crisis: A New Multilateralism or the Last Gasp of the Great Powers? Global Policy 1 (1): 51–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, Peter K. 2008. Access to Medicines, BRICS Alliances, and Collective Action. American Journal of Law & Medicine 34 (2&3): 345–394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeng, Jinghan. 2016. China’s Date with Big Data: Will It Strengthen or Threaten Authoritarian Rule? International Affairs 92 (6): 1443–1462.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bavarian School of Public Policy, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Laura C. Mahrenbach

Authors
  1. Laura C. Mahrenbach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Timothy M. Shaw

  2. Bavarian School of Public Policy, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Laura C. Mahrenbach

  3. Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India

    Renu Modi

  4. School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia

    Xu Yi-chong

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mahrenbach, L.C. (2019). Conceptualising Emerging Powers. In: Shaw, T.M., Mahrenbach, L.C., Modi, R., Yi-chong, X. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-45443-0_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation