Rise of the rest

As hype and reality

Bibliographic Data

ID4445360
AuthorsAyşe Zarakol (0000-0002-1236-3226, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume33
Issue2
Pages213-228
Publication date2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-1178 • E-ISSN: 1741-2862
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0047117819840793
OpenAlexW2939637070
LanguageEN
Citations received18

The past decade has been characterised (among other things) by the emergence of a discourse about the 'Rise of the Rest'. (Some) non-Western states have been described as 'rising powers' capable of agency in the international system and as potential partners for the West in global governance. This stands in contrast to a more traditional narrative that saw the non-West primarily as a source of international problems and a developmental project. Does this discursive shift signify a historic reversal in how the non-West understood by the West? The answer is complicated. In this article, I argue that the hype about 'rising powers' in Western policy circles following the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 had little relation to an 'objective' analysis of actual structural shifts in favour of 'the Rest' and was more akin to a financial bubble, with speculation driving perceptions of 'rising powers'. I also show that the 'rising powers' literature is better located within the broader (and long-standing) debate about the decline of the United States, and should be read more as a manifestation of American anxieties and hopes than as informing us about the choices or the motivations of the 'rising powers'. Ironically, however, the Western hype nevertheless has helped along a structural shift that is under way, first by partly moulding reality in that direction (especially in the form of financial decisions), but more importantly by freeing non-Western powers (for better or worse) from their internalised cages of perceived inferiority and lack of agency in the modern international order

Agency (philosophy) · Economics · Financial crisis · Keynesian economics · Narrative · Political economy · Political science · Rest (music) · Social science · Sociology · Speculation · European Union Policy and Governance · Finance · International Development and Aid · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Philosophy

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