Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-zklqj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-29T09:12:58.428Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Toward a differentiation-based framework for middle power behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2021

Sarah Teo Open the ORCID record for Sarah Teo [Opens in a new window]
Sarah Teo*
Affiliation:
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
*
Corresponding author. Sarah Teo, E-mail: islsteo@ntu.edu.sg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Differentiation is a foundational premise in the study of middle powers, as evident in the way that the relevant literature distinguishes these states from the great powers and smaller states. Despite the underlying assumption of differentiation, the middle power literature has rarely engaged theoretically with the concept. This paper seeks to make more explicit this basis of differentiation in the study of middle powers, by advancing a new framework for middle power behavior that draws on differentiation theory. The framework makes the case that it is the differentiated structure in international politics – a departure from the dominant neorealist understanding of structure – that enables the behavior of middle powers. The effects of this differentiated structure are activated by the relative, relational, and social power politics that middle powers engage in, in a particular time and place. Through this process, middle powers are able to leverage their ‘middlepowerness’ in international politics by weakening stratification particularly where the great powers are concerned, and strengthening functional differentiation through taking on key and distinctive roles. By putting differentiation at the core of a framework for middle power behavior, the paper strives to make a constructive contribution to the theorizing of middle powers.

Keywords

Differentiationmiddle powersmultilateralismpower politicsstructure

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
International Theory , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Albert, Mathias, Buzan, Barry, and Zürn, Michael. 2013. “Introduction: Differentiation Theory and International Relations.” In Bringing Sociology to International Relations: World Politics as Differentiation Theory, edited by Albert, Mathias, Buzan, Barry and Zürn, Michael, 1–24. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashley, Richard K. 1984. “The Poverty of Neorealism.” International Organization 38 (2): 225–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barkin, J. Samuel. 2010. Realist Constructivism: Rethinking International Relations Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beeson, Mark, and Higgott, Richard. 2014. “The Changing Architecture of Politics in the Asia-Pacific: Australia's Middle Power Moment?” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 14 (2): 215–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behringer, Ronald M. 2013. “The Dynamics of Middlepowermanship.” Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations 14 (2): 9–22.Google Scholar
Bull, Hedley. 1977. The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buzan, Barry, and Albert, Mathias. 2010. “Differentiation: A Sociological Approach to International Relations Theory.” European Journal of International Relations 16 (3): 315–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, Andrew. 2014. “Is Australia a Middle Power? A Systemic Impact Approach.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 68 (1): 70–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, Edward H. 2001. The Twenty Years’ Crisis 1919–1939. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Chapnick, Adam. 1999. “The Middle Power.” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 7 (2): 73–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, Andrew F. 1997. “Niche Diplomacy: A Conceptual Overview.” In Niche Diplomacy: Middle Powers After the Cold War, edited by Cooper, Andrew F., 1–24. London: MacMillan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, Andrew F., Higgott, Richard A., and Richard Nossal, Kim. 1993. Relocating Middle Powers: Australia and Canada in a Changing World Order. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, David A. 2011. “Challenging Contemporary Notions of Middle Power Influence: Implications of the Proliferation Security Initiative for ‘Middle Power Theory’.” Foreign Policy Analysis 7 (3): 317–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Robert W. 1989. “Middlepowermanship, Japan, and Future World Order.” International Journal 44 (4): 823–62.Google Scholar
Danermark, Berth, Ekström, Mats, Jakobsen, Liselotte, and Karlsson, Jan Ch.. 2002. Explaining Society: Critical Realism in the Social Sciences. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
de Pantz, Federica. 2019. “Middle Powers in the Agency-Structure Debate.” In Rethinking Middle Powers in the Asian Century: New Theories, New Cases, edited by de Swielande, Tanguy Struye, Vandamme, Dorothée, Walton, David and Wilkins, Thomas, 74–84. Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dent, Christopher M. 2016. East Asian Regionalism, 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnelly, Jack. 2009. “Rethinking Political Structures: From ‘Ordering Principles’ to ‘Vertical Differentiation’ – and Beyond.” International Theory 1 (1): 49–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnelly, Jack. 2012. “The Differentiation of International Societies: An Approach to Structural International Theory.” European Journal of International Relations 18 (1): 151–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnelly, Jack. 2013. “Differentiation: Type and Dimension Approaches.” In Bringing Sociology to International Relations: World Politics as Differentiation Theory, edited by Albert, Mathias, Buzan, Barry and Zürn, Michael, 91–111. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donnelly, Jack. 2015. “The Discourse of Anarchy in IR.” International Theory 7 (3): 393–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunne, Tim. 2003. “Society and Hierarchy in International Relations.” International Relations 17 (3): 303–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easley, Leif-Eric. 2012. “Middle Power National Identity? South Korea and Vietnam in US–China Geopolitics.” Pacific Focus 27 (3): 421–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Gareth, and Grant, Bruce. 1995. Australia's Foreign Relations in the World of the 1990s. Victoria: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Gareth. 1989a. “Australian Foreign Policy: Priorities in a Changing World.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 43 (2): 1–15.Google Scholar
Evans, Gareth. 1989b. “Australia's Regional Economic Co-Operation Initiative: An Idea Whose Time Has Come.” Address at the Opening of the Twelfth Australia-ASEAN Forum, Perth, 15 May. Available at http://www.gevans.org/speeches/old/1989/150589_fm_regionaleconomiccoop.pdf. Accessed 12 September 2018.Google Scholar
Evans, Gareth. 1993a. “Australia's Role in the New World Order.” Speech to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun/Australian Financial Review Japan–Australia Asia Symposium, Tokyo, 4 November. Available at http://www.gevans.org/speeches/old/1993/041193_fm_australiaandthenewworld.pdf. Accessed 12 September 2018.Google Scholar
Evans, Gareth. 1993b. “Australia's Middle Power Diplomacy.” The Inaugural Sir Zelman Cowen AIJA Annual Address on International Relations, Australian Institute of Jewish Affairs, Melbourne, 10 November. Available at http://www.gevans.org/speeches/old/1993/101193_fm_australiasmiddlepowerdiplo.pdf. Accessed 12 September 2018.Google Scholar
Finnemore, Martha. 2005. “Fights about Rules: The Role of Efficacy and Power in Changing Multilateralism.” Review of International Studies 31 (S1): 187–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funabashi, Yoichi. 1995. Asia Pacific Fusion: Japan's Role in APEC. Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Gecelovsky, Paul. 2009. “Constructing a Middle Power: Ideas and Canadian Foreign Policy.” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 15 (1): 77–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilley, Bruce, and O'Neil, Andrew. 2014. “China's Rise through the Prism of Middle Powers.” In Middle Powers and the Rise of China, edited by Gilley, Bruce and O'Neil, Andrew, 1–22. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Gilley, Bruce. 2016. “Conclusion: Delusions of Grandeur in the Goldilocks Zone.” International Journal 71 (4): 651–8.Google Scholar
Goh, Evelyn. 2013. The Struggle for Order: Hegemony, Hierarchy, and Transition in Post-Cold War East Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawke, Robert. 1987. “Dáil Éireann: Address by Robert J. L. Hawke, M.P.” PM Transcripts, 21 October. Available at https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-7235. Accessed 12 September 2018.Google Scholar
Hawke, Robert. 1989a. “Regional Co-operation: Challenges for Korea and Australia.” PM Transcripts, 31 January. Available at http://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-7475. Accessed 29 June 2018.Google Scholar
Hawke, Robert. 1989b. “Antarctica's Future: Continuity or Change.” PM Transcripts, 18 November. Available at https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-7817. Accessed 12 September 2018.Google Scholar
Holbraad, Carsten. 1984. Middle Powers in International Politics. London: Macmillan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holloway, Steven. 2000. “U.S. Unilateralism at the UN: Why Great Powers Do Not Make Great Multilateralists.” Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations 6 (3): 361–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karim, Moch Faisal. 2018. “Middle Power, Status-Seeking and Role Conceptions: The Cases of Indonesia and South Korea.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 72 (4): 343–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, Paul. 1992. “Statement to Parliament by the Prime Minister.” PM Transcripts, 13 October. Available at https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-8694. Accessed 12 September 2018.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1969. “Lilliputians’ Dilemmas: Small States in International Politics.” International Organization 23 (2): 291–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, Deborah Welch, Paul, Thazha V., and Wohlforth, William C.. 2014. “Status and World Order.” In Status in World Politics, edited by Paul, Thazha V., Welch Larson, Deborah and Wohlforth, William C., 3–30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luhmann, Niklas. 1982. The Differentiation of Society. Translated by Stephen Holmes and Charles Larmore. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manicom, James, and Reeves, Jeffrey. 2014. “Locating Middle Powers in International Relations Theory and Power Transitions.” In Middle Powers and the Rise of China, edited by Gilley, Bruce and O'Neil, Andrew, 23–44. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Mcconaughey, Meghan, Musgrave, Paul, and Nexon, Daniel H.. 2018. “Beyond Anarchy: Logics of Political Organization, Hierarchy, and International Structure.” International Theory 10 (2): 181–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milne, Robert S., and Mauzy, Diane K.. 1999. Malaysian Politics under Mahathir. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, Hans J. 2006. Politics among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.Google Scholar
Neack, Laura. 2017. “Searching for Middle Powers.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Foreign Policy Analysis, edited by Thies, Cameron G.. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.330. Accessed 19 March 2019.Google Scholar
Nossal, Kim Richard, and Stubbs, Richard. 1997. “Mahathir's Malaysia: An Emerging Middle Power?” In Niche Diplomacy: Middle Powers After the Cold War, edited by Cooper, Andrew F., 147–63. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parsons, Talcott. 1967. Sociological Theory and Modern Society. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Patience, Allan. 2014. “Imagining Middle Powers.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 68 (2): 210–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ping, Jonathan H. 2005. Middle Power Statecraft: Indonesia, Malaysia and the Asia-Pacific. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Pitty, Roderic. 2003. “Regional Economic Co-Operation.” In Facing North: A Century of Australian Engagement with Asia – Volume 2: 1970s to 2000, edited by Edwards, Peter and Goldsworthy, David, 13–47. Carlton: Melbourne University Press.Google Scholar
Ravenhill, John. 1998. “Cycles of Middle Power Activism: Constraint and Choice in Australian and Canadian Foreign Policies.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 52 (3): 309–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravenhill, John. 2001. APEC and the Construction of Pacific Rim Regionalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sayer, Andrew. 2010. Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach, Rev. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schroeder, Paul. 1994. “Historical Reality vs. Neo-Realist Theory.” International Security 19 (1): 108–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, David. 2013. “Australia as a Middle Power: Ambiguities of Role and Identity.” Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations 14 (2): 111–22.Google Scholar
Shin, Soon-ok. 2016. “South Korea's Elusive Middlepowermanship: Regional or Global Player?” The Pacific Review 29 (2): 187–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sørensen, Georg. 2008. “The Case for Combining Material Forces and Ideas in the Study of IR.” European Journal of International Relations 14 (1): 5–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Struye de Swielande, Tanguy. 2019. “Middle Powers: A Comprehensive Definition and Typology.” In Rethinking Middle Powers in the Asian Century: New Theories, New Cases, edited by de Swielande, Tanguy Struye, Vandamme, Dorothée, Walton, David and Wilkins, Thomas, 19–31. Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Thies, Cameron G., and Sari, Angguntari C.. 2018. “A Role Theory Approach to Middle Powers: Making Sense of Indonesia's Place in the International System.” Contemporary Southeast Asia 40 (3): 397–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth N. 1979. Theory of International Politics. Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Wight, Colin. 2006. Agents, Structures and International Relations: Politics as Ontology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wight, Martin. 1995. “Great Powers.” In Power Politics, edited by Bull, Hedley and Holbraad, Carsten, 41–53. London: Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Wilkins, Thomas S. 2019. “Defining Middle Powers through IR Theory: Three Images.” In Rethinking Middle Powers in the Asian Century: New Theories, New Cases, edited by de Swielande, Tanguy Struye, Vandamme, Dorothée, Walton, David and Wilkins, Thomas, 45–61. Oxon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Williams, Michael C. 2004. “Why Ideas Matter in International Relations: Hans Morgenthau, Classical Realism, and the Moral Construction of Power Politics.” International Organization 58 (4): 633–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Michael C. 2005. The Realist Tradition and the Limits of International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Bernard. 1987. “Middle Powers in the International System: A Preliminary Assessment of Potential.” WIDER Working Papers, no. 11. Helsinki: United Nations University-WIDER.Google Scholar
Zürn, Michael, Buzan, Barry, and Albert, Mathias. 2013. “Conclusion: Differentiation Theory and World Politics.” In Bringing Sociology to International Relations: World Politics as Differentiation Theory, edited by Albert, Mathias, Buzan, Barry and Zürn, Michael, 228–45. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar