Is anyone a middle power? The case for historicization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12915902 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeffrey Robertson (0000-0003-0549-505X, Yonsei University, corresponding author), Andrew Ossie Carr (0000-0003-3258-4269, Australian National University) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 379-403 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-26 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1752-9719 • E-ISSN: 1752-9727 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1752971923000106 |
| OpenAlex | W4385272583 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 82 |
What should happen to a concept as it loses real-world application? The concept of ‘middle power’ rose to prominence in the mid-20 th century, establishing an influential practitioner–scholarly nexus over the next several decades. This prestigious history came at a cost, embedding three core assumptions into the concept: that middle powers are International in focus, Multilateral in method, and Good Citizens in conduct. While there have been significant attempts by scholars to reform the concept, middle power theory has proven inseparable from these assumptions. In this paper, we examine six middle power states (Canada, Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, Turkey, and Mexico) and show middle power theory no longer helps us distinguish or interpret these states. Changes in the international environment suggest this finding will endure. As such, we argue for the historicization of the concept of ‘middle power’. We conclude by identifying a series of analytical puzzles which researchers will need to address to develop an appropriate conceptual lexicon for theorizing this type of state in the 21 st century
Epistemology · Foreign policy · Great power · International relations · Middle East · Middle power · Nexus (standard · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · State (computer science · Computer Science · Engineering · History · International Development and Aid · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Philosophy
Does transactionalism possess smartness? Reconstructing Türkiye’s approach towards the EU from 2017 to 2025
Australia’s Strategic Institutional Innovation in the Indo–Pacific
Steering a middle path in Sino-US rivalry
Managing the global ambitions of allies
Middle powers’ grand strategy in a great power competition
Civilian knowledge industries and the ascendance of small and medium-sized states in world politics
Brokering Peace
Norwegian Blues? Rethinking the Idea of Middle Powers in an Era of Fuzzy Bifurcation
Malaysia's Ambivalent Middle Power Status
Re‐Imagining Middle Powers in an Age of Global Transformation
Status Politics
Why Do Middle Powers Project Forces in Distant Regions? The Case of France in the Indo-Pacific
Populist Narratives and Personalized National Role Conception in Middle Powers
How do middle powers act? Turkey’s foreign policy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Continuity and change in Yoon Suk Yeol’s positioning of South Korea as a strong, proactive, and global middle power
Australian agency and the China–US contest for supremacy
Symmetric concern and asymmetric attention
Out of sight, out of mind? The bipartisan Australian foreign policy on irregular migration
How Indonesia and Vietnam navigate coalitional networks in the Indo-Pacific
No longer small? Azerbaijan’s pursuit of middle power status
Concept formation in historical International Relations
Relocating Middle Powers
Exit from Hegemony
Middle Powers in International Politics
The middle power
Locating Middle Powers in International Relations Theory and Power Transitions
Middle Powers and the Rise of China
The Making of Global International Relations
Before the West
Of medium powers and middling roles
Regionalism under Challenge
The Two Streams of Australia's Middle Power Imagining and their Sources
The “Middle Power” Concept in Australian Foreign Policy
Winning the Peace
The Struggle for Order
There Goes the Neighbourhood
Toward a differentiation-based framework for middle power behavior
International historical what
Challenging Contemporary Notions of Middle Power Influence
The changing architecture of politics in the Asia-Pacific
South Korea’s mismatched diplomacy in Asia
Canadian Institutional Strategies
Theorising Australia–Pacific island relations
Middle power strategic choices and horizontal security cooperation
Middle-power definitions
The dynamics of emerging middle-power influence in regional and global governance
Enabling authoritarianism in the Indo-Pacific
Australia the ‘good international citizen’? The limits of a traditional middle power
Is Australia a middle power? A systemic impact approach
Middle power, status-seeking and role conceptions
Cycles of middle power activism
India as Middle Power
How does Indonesia exercise agency in the contested and complex regional environment
Beyond the End of History
Doha stalemate
Turkish foreign policy under Erdogan
Small states and autonomous systems - the Scandinavian case
Transatlantic Bipolarity and the End of Multilateralism
On Becoming and Being a Middle Power
Lester Pearson and the Office of Secretary-General
Pinchpenny Diplomacy
Muddled Views on Middlepowermanship
Canada in Search of Its Role
Canada's New Stature
Middle Power Leadership on the Human Security Agenda
Turkey-West Relations
Regions and powers
British Defense & Alliance Strategy
Is American Multilateralism in Decline
Lost in Misconceptions about Social Identity Theory
Middle Powers under Regional Hegemony
The Middle Powers in the United Nations System
Middle power leadership and coalition building
The concept of a middle power in international relations
Power and International Relations
Populism and foreign policy
Global International Relations (IR) and Regional Worlds
The emerging middle power concept
Middle power liberal internationalism and mediation in messy places
South Korea's middle power diplomacy
Emerging middle powers and the liberal international order
Middlepowermanship, Japan, and Future World Order
The Canadian Middle Power Myth
Race and racism in the founding of the modern world order
Rethinking strategy and statecraft for the twenty-first century of complexity
The end of liberal international order
Globalization, deglobalization and the liberal international order
Fighting Illiberalism with Illiberalism
| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 10,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 19 |