Regional Powers and Contested Leadership

Description

When do rising powers fail to establish legitimate regional leadership and instead face contestation by their regional challengers? This book investigates how and why the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) project leadership in South America, post-Soviet Eurasia, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, respectively, and in what ways their main regional challengers respond. Based on a systematic conceptualization of the types and drivers of leadership and contestation, the authors assess the impact of the rise of regional powers on weaker states’ security, sovereignty, and status, as well as the consequences of contestation for regional economic development and stability and the regional powers’ bid for greater voice in global governance. By illuminating the sources and effects of power politics in five regions that are increasingly pivotal for the emerging world order, the volume offers a global comparative analysis of contemporary regional contested leadership that will interest scholars and students of international affairs, foreign policy, and area studies. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Regional Leadership and Contestation: Strategic Reactions to the Rise of the BRICS (Hannes Ebert, Daniel Flemes)....Pages 1-59 Front Matter ....Pages 61-61 Thinking Through Brazil’s Strategic Leadership Gap (Sean Burges)....Pages 63-84 Colombian Foreign Policy: Contestation by Institution Building (Daniel Flemes, Rafael Castro)....Pages 85-109 Front Matter ....Pages 111-111 South Africa: Still an Ambivalent (Sub)Regional Leader? (Karen Smith)....Pages 113-136 Contestation in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Foreign Policies of Angola, Kenya and Nigeria vis-à-vis South Africa (Sören Scholvin)....Pages 137-161 Front Matter ....Pages 163-163 China’s Institutional Balancing Strategies for “Multilateral Leadership” in the Asia Pacific (Huiyun Feng, Kai He)....Pages 165-188 Beyond Dichotomous Choices: Responses to Chinese Initiative in Southeast Asia (Alice D. Ba)....Pages 189-227 Front Matter ....Pages 229-229 India as a Regional Power: Opportunities and Constraints (Sumit Ganguly)....Pages 231-246 Power, Territory, and Learning: Explaining Pakistan’s Persistent Contestation (Hannes Ebert, Nicolas Blarel)....Pages 247-272 Front Matter ....Pages 273-273 Contested Regional Leadership: Russia and Eurasia (S. Neil MacFarlane)....Pages 275-299 Hedging and Wedging: Strategies to Contest Russia’s Leadership in Post-Soviet Eurasia (Stefan Meister)....Pages 301-326 Back Matter ....Pages 327-348