Leaping Jaguar, Crouching Tiger: Comparing the Strategic Culture of Brazil and India

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-247
Author(s):  
Marcos Degaut ◽  
◽  

Based on the premise that each country has a particular way of interpreting and reacting to international events, the study of strategic culture provides an important analytical tool for understanding and explaining how countries see the world and what drives their foreign policy practices and preferences. Considering that the rise of emerging powers has the potential to affect the balance of power in the international system, this article examines and compares the strategic culture of two of the most important emerging countries in the world, Brazil and India. While apparently exhibiting completely different patterns of strategic thinking, which have led them to pursue different approaches to reach their objectives, these two states share a belief that they are predestined to “greatness,” to play a more significant role in their regional contexts, and to become major stakeholders in global affairs. As the largest countries in their respective regions, Brazil and India can help to shape the future of Latin America and South Asia. Their international behaviour can not only condition the foreign, security and domestic policies and strategies of their neighbours but also impact the ambitions of extra-regional powers with a stake in those regions. Analyzing the strategic culture of these two countries can therefore help policymakers and scholars to understand the rationale for their perceptions and ambitions, what influences and drives their foreign and security policies, how they see the world and why they behave the way they do.

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-445
Author(s):  
Vladislav S. Soluianov

The author regards multipolarity as a question open for discussion, the variety of answers to which contribute not only to the comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, but also to the perception of processes taking place in the world politics. The content of the multipolarity concept is revealed through the perspectives of realism, neorealism, civilizational approach, regional approach, liberalism, and constructivism. From the realism perspective, multipolarity can be considered as an objective reflection of the world development. The foundation of multipolarity consists in the growth of economic, military, and political potential of non-Western powers and the weakening of the US position as a global leader. Neorealism views multipolarity as a property of the international system which affects the behavior of states. The civilizational approach focuses on identifying civilizations as new actors and centers of power on the world stage. The regional approach highlights the importance of the increasing regionalization processes and creation of regional integration systems, which contribute to the formation of multipolarity in the context of the rise of regional powers and weakening of the USs world position. Liberalism seeks to assess the impact of multipolarity on the stability and security of the international system. Along with the predictable attitude to multipolarity as a threat to peace and security, there is another more optimistic point of view. Constructivism regards multipolarity as a foreign policy discourse and a project of several states, primarily Russia. The results allow to see multipolarity from different perspectives and develop a more comprehensive and objective understanding of this phenomenon.


Author(s):  
Зеленева ◽  
I. Zeleneva

In the conditions of accruing civilization crisis a need of reforming of modern international system, global leadership and global management is becoming apparent. The ascending giant countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Republic of South Africa), becoming the new geopolitical centers of the world, became a new force in world politics. The author believes that BRICS as global association of regional powers is capable to reform the global management system.


2020 ◽  
pp. 186-202
Author(s):  
Alexander Cooley ◽  
Daniel Nexon

After two decades, American global hegemony is almost certainly reaching its expiration date. America will remain a great power, if the not greatest power. But, barring a major shock to emerging powers—and especially China—the world will fully transition to a new global order. This chapter sketches out some possible futures. These include a new bipolar system, perhaps with China and the United States locked in a new Cold War; a multipolar system that maintains the veneer of liberal global governance, but in the service of authoritarianism; and an international system characterized by globalized oligarchy and kleptocracy. There is still time to avoid the worst versions of these orders, and to push back against the full hijacking of liberal institutions in the service of worldwide corruption. But on these, and a number of other matters, American policymakers should assume the window of outsized American influence is fast closing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12(48) (4) ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Alla Kyrydon ◽  
Sergiy Troyan

Conceptual approaches to understanding the current stage of the evolution of international relations were put in place during the destruction of the bipolar world of the Cold War and the formation of new foundations of the world and international order. The distinctiveness of this process is that the collapse of the postwar system took place in peaceful conditions. Most often, two terms are used to describe the interconnectedness and interdependence of world politics after the fall of the Iron Curtain: the post-bipolar (post-westphalian) international system or international relations after the end of the Cold War. Two terms, post-bipolar international system and international relations after the end of the Cold War, have common features, which usually allows them to be used as synonyms and makes them the most popular when choosing a common comprehensive definition for the modern international relations. The collapse of the Soviet bloc and the global bipolar system put on the agenda issues that cannot be resolved within the traditional terms “poles,” “balance of power,” “configuration of the balance of power” etc. The world has entered a period of uncertainty and growing risks. the global international system is experiencing profound shocks associated with the transformation of its structure, changes in its interaction with the environment, which accordingly affects its regional and peripheral dimensions. In modern post-bipolar relations of shaky equilibrium, there is an obvious focus on the transformation of the world international order into a “post-American world” with the critical dynamics of relations between old and new actors at the global level. The question of the further evolution of the entire system of international relations in the post-bipolar world and the tendency of its transformation from a confrontational to a system of cooperation remains open.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Rodrigues

The world is rapidly changing and the new international order includes developing nations as powerful actors. Among them, Brazil stands out as one of the most influential and promising players. This article examines Brazil’s case as an emerging major power in the international system. Despite several challenges it has yet to overcome, Brazil presents itself as a stable nation capable of being an economically and politically influential. This paper analyzes how Brazil is much more than just soccer, the Amazon, and Carnaval; in reality, it is becoming a powerful actor in the international system that does has a lot to offer. Brazilians always had the hope that some day their country would launch off into an age of economic growth and stability. The promise of living in the “nation of future” has been present in Brazil even in the early 20th century, when thousands of people immigrated dreaming of a better life. Unfortunately, the situation did not play out as nicely as they had hoped. Whether it was due to the fragility of the domestic political regime or its economic failures, Brazil was never able to reach this dream. In fact, Brazil has a long history of ups and downs. All of its booms were short-lived – the milagre economico (economic miracle) of the 1970s, for instance, was quickly followed by a ride with hyperinflation and increasing public debt in the 1980s. Brazil re-established a democratic regime in 1985 with the hopes of beginning a new era of progress and stability. Twenty-five years later this goal is, for the first time, tangible. Brazil now enters the 21st century as one of the main emerging powers in the world. Brazil’s influence abroad increased tremendously in the last decade. Whether it is in speeches over global issues at the United Nations or at meetings of the world’s biggest firms, it seems clear that Brazil is no longer overlooked. This only happened after Brazil finally reached political and economic stability, positioned itself as an international leader, and demonstrated the virtues of several of its unique characteristics. After years of struggle and little self-esteem, Brazil now emerges out of the biggest crisis in 80 years as the prominent leader for Latin America.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-106
Author(s):  
Lech Smolaga ◽  
Mateusz Smolaga

This article focuses on the political effects of ongoing shifts in the world economy. Using various indicators, including shares in the global Gross Domestic Product, expenditures on research and development, external balance on goods and services, and military expenditures, the authors present how the positions of major powers in international relations (the United States, the European Union and its countries, Japan, China, and Russia) have changed over the last few decades. Current data and the extrapolation of trends reveal that we are witnessing significant changes in economic power across the world. This has undoubtedly exacerbated existing tensions in international politics. The text tests the hypothesis that a weakening of the major economies of the global North (the US, EU, and Japan), and related shift in the balance of power, are driving the world towards the existence of a multi-polar international system.


China Report ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-463
Author(s):  
Anand. V

China’s strategic culture has mostly been understood from the competing prisms of Confucianism and realpolitik traditions. However, there is a need to go beyond this binary approach to explore the more nuanced civilisational basis of China’s strategic thinking. It is in this context that the role of Daoism becomes significant in understanding China’s behavioural patterns. The Daoist strategic tradition has been found to be a highly cogent system based on five key pillars—strategic rationalism, strategic aloofness, strategic optimisation, strategic restraint and strategic flexibility. These aspects have been found reflected in various key instances of China’s strategic practice, demonstrating its relevance for understanding China’s strategic culture.


2005 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.V. Paul

Analysts have argued that balance of power theory has become irrelevant to understanding state behavior in the post-Cold War international system dominated by the United States. Second-tier major powers (such as China, France, and Russia) and emerging powers (such as Germany and India) have refrained from undertaking traditional hard balancing through the formation of alliances or arms buildups. None of these states fears a loss of its sovereign existence as a result of increasing U.S. power. Nevertheless, some of these same states have engaged in soft-balancing strategies, including the formation of temporary coalitions and institutional bargaining, mainly within the United Nations, to constrain the power as well as the threatening behavior of the United States. Actions taken by others in response to U.S. military intervention in the Kosovo confiict of 1999 and the Iraq war of 2003 offer examples of soft balancing against the United States.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-40
Author(s):  
Abdoulaye MFONKA

The international system is regularly changing whether in times of peace or crisis. This sometimes makes it very complex to determine precisely who the “policeman of the world” is. This position varies according to the context. Since the end of 2019, the world has been facing a severe health crisis caused by a new virus, SAR-Cov 2, also known as Coronavirus or Covid-19. The question on everyone’s minds is whether this health crisis will redefine of the poles of stability and power in the global system. It appears to be a strong factor that will revive the latent and manifest positioning struggles that have shaken the international system since the end of the cold war, a system seized by unimultipolarity and the leadership quarrels of the emerging powers. We may or not end up with the overthrow of the current world order with regards to the managerial approach to the crisis by the various world powers.


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