Worldviews of Aspiring Powers

Worldviews of Aspiring Powers provides a serious study of the domestic foreign policy debates in five world powers who have gained more influence as the US's has waned: China, Japan, India, Russia and Iran. Featuring a leading regional scholar for each essay, each essay identifies the most important domestic schools of thought--nationalists, realists, globalists, idealists/exceptionalists--and connects them to the historical and institutional sources that fuel each nation's foreign policy experience. While scholars have applied this approach to US foreign policy, this book is the first to track the competing schools of foreign policy thought within five of the world's most important rising powers. Concise and systematic, Worldviews of Aspiring Powers will serve as both an essential resource for foreign policy scholars trying to understand international power transitions and as a text for courses that focus on the same.
"These essays are an innovative effort to identify and explain common themes in the foreign policy thinking and formulation of the world's most important aspiring powers. An attentive reader will come away with a sharper understanding of both the pace and the direction of global change and the implications of that change for American power abroad."-Jim Hoagland, The Washington Post

"The authors and editors of this volume should be commended for showing readers how the varied histories, religions, and traditions of leading countries inform their approach to world affairs. Policymakers and students alike will find this book essential reading as they struggle to make sense of and make policy in our 21st century world."- Walter Russell Mead, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations

"The old division of domestic and foreign policy is over. But the emerging foreign policy views of the rising powers are not well understood. I welcome this volume as a serious attempt to explain some of the big new forces reshaping the international system."-Rt. Hon. David Miliband, UK Foreign Secretary 2007-2010

"This volume is imaginatively conceived and wonderfully executed. Addressing this theme requires a combination of historical scholarship, political judgment, and analytical acuity. The essays in the volume display these qualities in ample measure. There is no volume of comparable scope. It ought to command wide readership."-Pratap Bhanu Mehta, President & Chief Executive, Centre for Policy Research

1. INTRODUCTION: DOMESTIC VOICES OF ASPIRING POWERS ; HENRY R. NAU ; 2. CHINA: THE CONFLICTED RISING POWER ; DAVID SHAMBAUGH AND REN XIAO ; 3. INDIA: FOREIGN POLICY PERSPECTIVES OF AN AMBIGUOUS POWER ; DEEPA OLLAPALLY AND RAJESH RAJAPOPALAN ; 4. IRAN'S POST-REVOLUTION FOREIGN POLICY PUZZLE ; FARIDEH FARHI AND SAIDEH LOTFIAN ; 5. HUGGING AND HEDGING: JAPANESE GRAND STRATEGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY ; NARUSHIGE MICHISHITA AND RICHARD J. SAMUELS ; 6. RUSSIA'S CONTESTED NATIONAL IDENTITY AND FOREIGN POLICY ; ANDREW KUTCHINS AND IGOR ZEVELEV ; 7. CONCLUSION: REALISTS, NATIONALISTS AND GLOBALISTS AND THE NATURE OF CONTEMPORARY RISING POWERS ; DEEPA OLLAPALLY AND NIKOLA MIRILOVIC