Emerging States: The Wellspring of a New World Order

The balance of global power is undergoing a tectonic shift, with "developing" countries such as India, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and South Africa now asserting their influence. These countries subtly redefine our notion of "strong" and "weak" economics and the relationship between political stability and international might, changing the rules of the international power grab to an extent unheard of since 1945.

Emerging states share high growth rates and increasing institutional activities, and they equally pursue integration into the world economy. Yet each country differs in its forms of capitalism and overall economic and political trajectories. China has become "the world's factory," while India is known as "the world's back office." In light of these differences, there is now an urgent need to understand how our conception of "emerging states" corresponds to reality and the new configurations of power they might inspire. This richly documented volume, which contains mroe than one hundred color maps, graphs, and tables, includes the criteria for designating an "emerging" state and describes regional dynamics in several studies. The volume frames the behavior of these new power players and identifies probably challenges that might arise as they enter the world stage.