T. V. Paul (Ed.). 2016. Accommodating Rising Powers: Past, Present, and Future

DOI10.1177/2347797018799894
Date01 December 2018
Published date01 December 2018
Subject MatterBook Reviews
334 Book Reviews
error (‘inter-service’ is put instead of ‘inter-services’). Nonetheless, Faith, Unity,
Discipline: The ISI of Pakistan is reader-friendly, very educational investigation
on the subject, and thus recommended for specialists and laymen readers alike.
Ejaz Hussain
Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences
Iqra University, Islamabad, Pakistan
E-mail: ejaz.hussain@iqraisb.edu.pk
T. V. Paul (Ed.). 2016. Accommodating Rising Powers: Past, Present,
and Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, x + 326 pp. ISBN:
13-9781107592230
DOI: 10.1177/2347797018799894
The contemporary international system is passing through a period of transition
because the power is not only shifting from the established to the rising powers
but also diffusing from state to non-state actors. This redistribution of power has
generated uncertainty about the future of the international order. Amidst the
uncertainty, Amitav Acharya (2014) speculates the coming international order as
a ‘multiplex theatre’, where different movies run at the same time and same place,
while Charles Kupchan (2012) conceives it as ‘no one’s world’, a world where not
one superpower will dominate the system. Despite divergence, there is an agree-
ment among scholars that the future of the international order, to a large extent,
will depend on how the established powers react to the emergence of rising pow-
ers and how the rising powers respond to the established power’s reaction. T. V.
Paul’s Accommodating Rising Powers investigates ‘whether, and when, peaceful
accommodation of rising powers works against the conditions that generate
intense rivalry and conflict’ (p. 4) and the range of strategies do the established,
and rising powers have available. It argues that ‘though structural conditions can
lead to conflict, proper synchronisation of strategies for peaceful change by estab-
lished and rising powers can mitigate the possibilities of violent conflicts’ (p. 4).
The first section containing five chapters provides a conceptual and theoretical
overview. Whilst defining accommodation, Paul argues that it is a mutual process
that involves adaptation of rising powers by the established powers, status accept-
ance by both the rising and established powers as well as a substantial reduction
of hostility between them. Accommodation, to him, implies that ‘the emerging
power is given the status and perks associated with the rank of great power in the
international system, which includes … recognition of its sphere of influence, or
the decision not to challenge it militarily’ (p. 5). To investigate the possible nature
of transition, whether it will be peaceful or conflictual, the contributors have
deployed different theories. In the second chapter, Steven Lobell has noticed that
the realists see the prospects of a peaceful power transition grim. Instead of
change, realists believe that established powers try to maintain their domination.
To prevent rising powers from accumulating power, the established powers use
three strategies: balance (of power), containment and deterrence.

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