Rising Powers

My colleague David Kampf in his posting today, draws our attention to the current Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Tehran in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicts the collapse of capitalism.  Scary, right?  It is another firebrand speech from an energetic leader of a rising regional power with a productive nuclear program and a lot […]

If the end of the Cold War marked the defeat of communism and the rise of the United States as the world’s dominant power, can the financial crisis and end of US hegemony signal the defeat of liberal democracy and capitalism? No, but Iran’s president seems to think so. In a speech to regional leaders […]

When assessing the world’s rising powers, we often focus on the most evident forms of strength – military, economic and diplomatic. But, does a country’s soft power impact the global balance of power? The term soft power was coined by Joseph S. Nye Jr., a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School (and rumored new United […]

This blog mostly has discussed the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China) as the main rising powers of the world.  One often overlooked rising power is Turkey.  Turkey has been an important bridge between the East and West for centuries (as the modern Turkish state and previous national and imperial incarnations).  In the 21st century, […]

It will be difficult to “reset” relations between the former Cold War foes if the United States and Russia can’t communicate. In an effort to jokingly symbolize a fresh start, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a fake reset button as a gift to her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a meeting […]

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.  US-Russia relations are looking positive.  Yesterday, NATO and Russia restarted relations after they were cut off over last summer’s Georgia conflict.  This week, Russian President Medvedev turned down a proposal by US President Obama suggesting an exchange for a […]

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao spoke optimistically about China’s flagging economy during his annual address to the National People’s Congress. Wen outlined extensive measures to enable continued economic growth. In anticipation of new investments Asian markets moved higher on Wednesday, but the Premier did not specify any spending beyond previous commitments. China’s leaders have long […]

Foreign ministers at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) agreed to resume high-level relations with Russia during a meeting today in Brussels. NATO severed normal ties with Russia following the country’s invasion of Georgia (an aspiring NATO member) last summer. Moscow subsequently recognized the independence of two breakaway regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – […]

Source: BBC     Is the conflict over Kashmir hindering India’s rise?  Is an unstable Pakistan, with its religious, regional and political cleavages, likewise a threat to India’s rise?  Is American foreign policy exacerbating tensions in South Asia with its concentration on Al Qaeda, the Taliban and Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan? In The New Yorker ’s […]

In a massive PR effort, the Chinese government held an online chat session for the public. China is home to the largest population of Internet users on earth. Premier Wen Jiabao was the representative of the government, and appeared to many analysts as if he were running for election.  Indeed perhaps he was taking some […]

In a move representative of Vice President Biden’s call to “press the reset button” on American-Russian relations, President Obama sent a letter to Russian President Medvedev seeking stronger cooperation on halting Iran’s nuclear program. The letter, hand-delivered in Moscow three weeks ago by top US officials, raises the possibility of stopping the deployment of a […]

“Already the world’s preeminent energy and trade interstate seaway, the Indian Ocean will matter even more as India and China enter into a dynamic great-power rivalry in these waters,” writes Robert Kaplan, a correspondent for The Atlantic and senior fellow at the Center for New American Security. Appearing in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, […]