Accommodating Rising Powers
Past, Present, and Future

As the world enters the third decade of the twenty-first century, far-reaching changes are likely to occur. China, Russia, India, and Brazil, and perhaps others, are likely to emerge as contenders for global leadership roles. War as a system-changing mechanism is unimaginable, given that it would escalate into nuclear conflict and the destruction of the planet. It is therefore essential that policymakers in established as well as rising states devise strategies to allow transitions without resorting to war, but dominant theories of International Relations contend that major changes in the system are generally possible only through violent conflict. This volume asks whether peaceful accommodation of rising powers is possible in the changed international context, especially against the backdrop of intensified globalization. With the aid of historic cases, it argues that peaceful change is possible through effective long-term strategies on the part of both status quo and rising powers.

Part I. Mechanisms of Accommodation: 1. The accommodation of rising powers in world politics T. V. Paul; 2. Realism, balance of power, and power transitions Steven E. Lobell; 3. Globalization, interdependence, and major power accommodation Philip Potter; 4. What would E. H. Carr say? How international institutions address peaceful political change Krzysztof J. Pelc; 5. The responsibility to accommodate: ideas and change Mlada Bukovansky; Part II. Historical Cases: 6. Seizing the day or passing the baton? Power, illusion, and the British Empire Ali Zeren and John A. Hall; 7. The US accommodation of communist China Lorenz M. Lüthi; 8. Accommodation and containment: Great Britain and Germany prior to the two world wars Martin Claar and Norrin M. Ripsman; 9. Did the US and the Allies fail to accommodate Japan in the 1920s and the 1930s? Jeffrey W. Taliaferro; Part III. Contemporary Cases: 10. China's bargaining strategies for a peaceful accommodation after the Cold War Kai He; 11. Partial accommodation without conflict: India as a rising link power Aseema Sinha; 12. Brazil: revising the status quo with soft power? David R. Mares; 13. Prospects for the accommodation of a resurgent Russia Nicola Contessi; Part IV. Conclusions: 14. Great power accommodation and the processes of international politics Theodore McLauchlin.

T. V. Paul is James McGill Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at McGill University. He is the author or editor of 16 books and over 60 scholarly articles and book chapters in the fields of international relations, international security, and South Asia, including International Relations Theory and Regional Transformation (Cambridge, 2012) and Asymmetric Conflicts: War Initiation by Weaker Powers (Cambridge, 1994).