The effects of organized labor on regime change in developing countries are not clear‐cut. Optimists argue that union agitation is conducive to both democratic transition and consolidation processes. Pessimists hold that unions will support any regime that is conducive to their demands....

In the course of the last decade, the IBSA states (India, Brazil, South Africa) have increased their weight in the shifting global order, particularly in economic affairs. Can the same be said about the IBSA states' position in the international security hierarchy? After locating the IBSA...

Eine Reihe von Ländern in Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika steigen zu wichtigen Akteuren auf und verschieben die Koordinaten in der Weltpolitik und -wirtschaft. Die politischen und wirtschaftlichen Verschiebungen zugunsten dieser Regionalen Führungsmächte gehen mit einem relativen...

As the conception of and debates on regional powers have been led by political science, this paper aims to contribute to the discussion from an economics perspective. Based on the discussion of different concepts of economic power - such as those of Schumpeter, Perroux, Predöhl, or Kindleberger...

The second‐most powerful states in regional hierarchies - or "secondary powers" - can be expected to contest against hegemons. In this paper, I assess the power that secondary powers in sub‐Saharan Africa wield vis-à-vis South Africa and suggest that their intended and unintended...

Beyond the hopes placed in Africa's emergent middle class as an engine of economic growth, some analysts see this group as a bastion of political stability and enduring democratisation across the continent. This paper's approach differs from that of most studies, which treat the middle class as...