This empirically and theoretically grounded book provides insights into the ascendance of powers such as Turkey, South Korea and Indonesia and their relationship with Africa. Leading scholars present case studies from the BRICS and beyond to demonstrate the constantly evolving and complex character of these ties and their place in the global capitalist order. They also offer new theoretical insights, as well as theorisation of the spatio-temporal dynamics involved in processes of accumulation within the African space. Their contention is that, despite their supposed anti-imperialism, these emerging powers have become agents for continued uneven development. This innovative edited collection will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, political science, development studies, area studies, geography and economics.

In a multipolar world with growing demand for energy, not least by Emerging Powers such as Brazil, India, China or South Africa (BICS), questions of EU external energy governance would at first hand appear to be a high-priority. Yet, reality tells a different story: the EU’s geographical focus remains on adjacent countries in the European neighbourhood and on issues related to energy security. Despite being Strategic Partners and engaging in energy dialogues, it seems that the EU is lacking strategic vision and is not perceived as a major actor in energy cooperation with the BICS. Thus, political momentum for energy cooperation and joint governance of scarce resources is vanishing. Resulting from three years of international, interdisciplinary research cooperation among academics and practitioners in Europe and the BICS countries within a project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, this volume addresses one of the greatest global challenges. Specific focus lies on the bilateral energy dialogues and Strategic Partnerships between the EU and Emerging Powers regarding bilateral, inter- and transnational energy cooperation. Furthermore, the analysis provides policy recommendations in order to tap the full potential of energy cooperation between the EU and Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

Over the last decade, the United States' position as the world's most powerful state has appeared increasingly unstable. The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, non-traditional security threats, global economic instability, the apparent spread of authoritarianism and illiberal politics, together with the rise of emerging powers from the Global South have led many to predict the end of Western dominance on the global stage. This book brings together scholars from international relations, economics, history, sociology and area studies to debate the future of US leadership in the international system. The book analyses the past, present and future of US hegemony in key regions in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, Europe and Africa – while also examining the dynamic interactions of US hegemony with other established, rising and re-emerging powers such as Russia, China, Japan, India, Turkey and South Africa. American Hegemony and the Rise of Emerging Powers explores how changes in the patterns of cooperation and conflict among states, regional actors and transnational non-state actors have affected the rise of emerging global powers and the suggested decline of US leadership. Scholars, students and policy practitioners who are interested in the future of the US-led international system, the rise of emerging powers from the Global South and related global policy challenges will find this multidisciplinary volume an invaluable guide to the shifting position of American hegemony.

The rise of large and rapidly growing nations is having a significant impact on the global order, as their expanding influence reshapes the structure of power in the international system. These emerging powers are increasingly asserting themselves as major actors on the global scene. Leading this cadre of emerging powers are five nations referred to as the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This book takes inventory of both the individual and collective soft power of this rising bloc of nations. Having embraced the potential of this newly emphasized type of power as a means of generating international influence, these nations have dedicated substantial effort and resources to implementing a soft power offensive. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Political Power.

Exploring to what extent the BRICS group is a significant actor challenging the global order, this book focuses on the degree and consequence of their emergence and explores how important cooperation is to individual BRICS members’ foreign policy strategies and potential relevance as leaders in regional and global governance. The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have come to play an important role on the global political scene. As a group, and as individual countries, they have taken initiatives to establish new institutions, and have engaged in yearly summits that coordinate their voice and focus on intra-BRICS cooperation. In this sense, the BRICS may be seen as a "balancing coalition", and often the main opposing force to Western powers. Looking at the debate around the role of the BRICS as an actor, expert contributors also explore the international political economy (IPE) of individual BRICS countries as systemically important countries with highly asymmetrical individual power capacities. The comprehensive theoretical and empirical coverage of this timely volume will be especially useful to students, researchers and professionals interested in ongoing academic debates around the IPE of emerging powers, and those researching global governance and globalization.

The early twenty-first century has seen the beginning of a considerable shift in the global balance of power. Major international governance challenges can no longer be addressed without the ongoing co-operation of the large countries of the global South. Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, ASEAN states, and Mexico wield great influence in the macro-economic foundations upon which rest the global political economy and institutional architecture. It remains to be seen how the size of the emerging powers translates into the ability to shape the international system to their own will. In this book, leading international relations experts examine the positions and roles of key emerging countries in the potential transformation of the G8 and the prospects for their deeper engagement in international governance. The essays consider a number of overlapping perspectives on the G8 Heiligendamm Process, a co-operation agreement that originated from the 2007 summit, and offer an in-depth look at the challenges and promises presented by the rise of the emerging powers. Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation

Current debates on emerging powers as foreign aid donors often fail to examine the myriad geopolitical, geoeconomic and geocultural tensions that influence policies of Official Development Assistance (ODA). This book advocates a regional geopolitical approach to explaining donor-donor relationships and provides a multidisciplinary critical assessment of the contemporary debates on emerging powers and foreign aid, bringing together economic and geopolitical approaches in the light of the 2015 completion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Moving away from established debates assessing the advantages and disadvantages of foreign aid, this book challenges the current geopolitical assumptions of the emerging powers concerning issues such as 'south-south' solidarity, shared development experience and 'multipolarity'. It analyses how donor governments 'sell' aid to recipients through enabling different cultural assumptions and soft power narratives of national identity and provides empirical evidence on agendas such as aid effectiveness, aid for trade, public-private partnerships, and green growth aid. The book examines the role of, and relationships between, the leading traditional and emerging power Asian donors specifically, and explores the different and contested perspectives and patterns of ODA policy through an alternative account of emerging power foreign aid to leading African and Asian recipients. This book provides a valuable resource for postgraduate students and practitioners across disciplines such as development economics and geopolitics of development, uniquely approaching the debate from the perspective of emerging powers and donors.

The book assesses emerging powers’ influence on international economic law and analyses whether their rhetoric of reforming this ‘unjust’ order translates into concrete reforms. The questions at the heart of the book surround the extent to which Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa individually and as a bloc (BRICS) provide alternative regulatory ideas to those of ‘Western’ States and whether they are able to convert their increased power into influence on global regulation. To do so, the book investigates two broader case studies, namely, the reform of international investment agreements and WTO reform negotiations since the start of the Doha Development Round. As a general outcome, it finds that emerging powers do not radically challenge established law. ‘Third World’ rhetoric mostly does not translate into practice and rather serves to veil economic interests. Still, emerging powers provide for some alternative regulatory ideas, already leading to a diversification of international economic law. As a general rule, they tend to support norms that allow host States much policy space which could be used to protect and fulfil socio-economic human rights, especially – but not only – in the Global South.

The post-2015 goals and the changing environment of development cooperation will demand a renewed and strengthened UN development system. In line with their increasing significance as economic powers, a growing number of emerging nations will play an expanded role in the UN development system. These roles will take the form of growing financial contributions to individual organizations, greater weight in governance structures, higher staff representation, a stronger voice in development deliberations, and a greater overall influence on the UN development agenda. Emerging Powers and the UN explores in depth the relationship of these countries with, and their role in, the future UN development system. Formally, the relationship is through representation as member states (first UN) and UN staff (second UN). However, the importance of the non-public sector interests (third UN) of emerging economies is also growing, through private sponsorship and NGO activities in development. This book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

The current framework of development cooperation is dominated by the experiences of industrialized countries. But emerging economies have begun to accelerate their own development programmes, and attempts to bring them into existing aid models have been met with caution and reservation. This expert, topical volume explores the development policies of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, analysing how South-South cooperation has evolved and where it differs from traditional development cooperation. This vital new collection brings together first-hand experience from these countries to provide a forward-looking analysis of the current global architecture of development cooperation and of the possible convergence of traditional and emerging development actors.