Baylis,, Smith and

d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Re
evision guiide
Chap
pter 5: Ris
sing powe
ers and the
e emergin
ng global o
order

Du
uring the 19
990s there was near universal agreement that the gglobal system was
dominated byy the powe
er of the Un
nited State
es and its allies
a
and bby the institutions
tha
at the US dominated.
d
.

Fro
om the perrspective of
o the dominant norms of the sy
ystem, the United Sta
ates has
rarrely been a status quo power b ut has ofte
en sought to
t mould thhe system in its own
ima
age. Since
e the end of
o the cold w
war it has been a strongly revissionist pow
wer: in the
199
90s, in term
ms of pressing for ne
ew norms on
o interven
ntion, the oopening of markets,
and
d the embe
edding of particular
p
ssets of wha
at it saw as
s liberal vaalues in inte
ernational
insstitutions; in
n the early
y years of t his century
y, in terms of its attem
mpt to reca
ast norms
on regime ch
hange and on the use
e of force.

The states off the global South did

d not face the
t United States witthin a stable notion
of a Westpha
alian orderr. From the
eir perspec
ctive, the dominant
d
W
Western sta
ates were
inssisting that many of th
he most im
mportant no
orms of the
e system oought to change,
abo
ove all in ways
w
that threatened greater interventionism. But thhere was a
wid
despread sense
s
that there was little altern
native but to
t accomm
modate We
estern
pow
wer.

There was widespread

w
consensu s that challlenges to the
t US-ledd order wou
uld result
from blowback or bac
cklashes a gainst US and Weste
ern power,, and would
d be
foccused arou
und anti-he
egemonic ssocial move
ements or radical staates.

Ovver the lastt decade, countries

c
s uch as Bra
azil, Russia
a, India, Chhina, South Africa,
the
e ASEAN states,
s
and
d Mexico ha
ave experienced sign
nificant ecoonomic
devvelopmentt. For many
y, the conttinuation off this trend is likely too result in an
a
alte
eration in the
t econom
mic balancce in favourr of the dyn
namic emeerging marrkets.

Oxford Universityy Press, 2014.

Baylis,, Smith and

d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Re
evision guiide

With this grea

ater econo
omic share of the worrld market, they feel tthat they deserve
d
a
gre
eater politiccal say in the
t interna
ational com
mmunity as well. In facct, the 200
08
fina
ancial crisiisunders
scoring the
e shift in relative econ
nomic weigghtonly made
m
this
calll for a seat at the top
p negotiatin
ng tables stronger
s
an
nd more urrgent.

Building on th
he idea tha
at a shared
d voice is stronger
s
th
han a singl e voice, th
he
merging pow
wers realiz
ze that theyy have to cooperate
c
ward their
em
in order too push forw
ow
wn agendass. On this view,
v
the n
new forms of Southerrn multilateeralism led by
tod
days emerrging and regional
r
po
owers have
e put the id
dea of the gglobal Sou
uth firmly
bacck on the political
p
and intellectu
ual map.

For mainstrea
am realist and
a neo-re
ealist writers
s, rising po
owers matteer because
e their
owing mate
erial power disrupts th
he balance of power. There is grreat debate
e about
gro
exa
actly how changes
c
in material power causes conflict, but widesppread agre
eement
tha
at power sh
hifts are ass
sociated w
with conflict and that th
his will conttinue: henc
ce the
pre
ediction of many
m
neo--realists tha
at conflict between
b
the
e US and C
China is ine
evitable.

These materially-based
d approach
hes to rising powers and
a global order rem
main highly
ut they do not tell us enough ab
bout the po
otential patthways tha
at might
inflluential. Bu
lea
ad to the em
mergence of major p
power competition. What
W
we waant to know
w is
pre
ecisely how
w an intern
national sysstem might move acrross a specctrum from
m the
general diffussion of pow
wer, to a siituation of multipolarity, to a sysstem in wh
hich the
forreign policies of the major
m
state
es are drive
en by balan
nce of pow
wer politics and
log
gics. Such systems do not sudd
denly appe
ear out of nowhere.
n

Ma
aterial unde
erstandings of powerr provide an
a insufficie
ent basis foor understa
anding
the
e reasons for
f challenge and the
e crucial im
mportance of
o status aand recognition as
facctors in the
e foreign po
olicy behavviour of em
merging pow
wers. Evenn if one accepts the
ide
ea of rising states as revisionistt, it is difficult to unde
erstand thee sources of
o their

Oxford Universityy Press, 2014.

Baylis,, Smith and

d Owens: T
The Globa
alization of World Pol itics 6e
Re
evision guiide
disssatisfactio
on purely within
w
a worrld of mate
erial power and systeemically giv
ven
inccentives.

For internatio
onal society
y theorists, power hierarchies arre not simpply about material
m
pow
wer. Greatt powers co
onstitute a particular social cate
egory. Beinng a great power
dep
pends on recognition
r
by others and on the
e cultivation
n of legitimaacy. The sttability of
pow
wer transitiions will be
e crucially a
affected by
y the accom
mmodation of rising po
owers and
the
e reallocatio
on of the se
eats around the top ta
able of inte
ernational ppolitics.

For many the

eorists, the power of todays risiing powers
s is not justt a matter of
o the
pow
wer resourrces that they possesss. It derives
s from the role that thhey are play
ying in
fun
nctional institutions cre
eated to de
eal with eve
er more pre
essing setss of challen
nges (such
as the manag
gement of the
t global e
economy, climate
c
cha
ange, nucleear prolifera
ation).
And it derivess from theirr equally ne
ecessary ro
ole in the creation of llegitimate institutions
and
d represen
ntative struc
ctures of gllobal goverrnance.

Oxford Universityy Press, 2014.