Motivations of a Rising PowerEssay Preview: Motivations of a Rising PowerReport this essayMotivations of a Rising PowerIn the general sense, a rising power refers to a country that has the sufficient potential to play a more prominent role in international relations than it has played before. The impact of a rising power is very important in the literature of international relations theory, as a rising power often changes the distribution of power between makor powers in the international system.
For scholars familiar with the rise and fall of great powers over the centuries, emergence of a great power in the international system can be understood within the context of a clash between a dominant power and a rising power. When a second ranked great power rises to near equality with a dominant power, this rising power is inclines to initiate war to obtain the status and rewards denied by the traditional international order9. It is because a rising power is usually dissatisfied with the existing international order, it naturally desires to change international system through belligerent means
However, this need not be the case. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, rising powers have no reason to rush to challenge the existing status quo. This is because rising powers have strong incentives to avoid major conflicts with a dominant power and simply wait, since given time they can achieve even more advantageous position from which to challenge the status quo.
Moreover, it is not necessarily the case that a rising power will always go to war with the dominant power, as, for example, the United States did not go to war with the British Empire at the turn of the twentieth century, even when it surpassed the British Empire to become as the dominant power. From theoretical perspective, rational rising powers prefer costless choice and tend to avoid unnecessary war. Some irrational rising powers like Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, on the other hand, often fail to reach stable great power status because they wage unreasonable major war in the process of rising.
However, this does not necessarily imply that the strategic motivations of rising powers will be benign and calm. Even though rising powers often claim benign intentions to reassure other countries, these are often disregarded, not only because other powers know that rising powers have incentives to conceal their intentions, but also because their intentions may change when their relative status and circumstances change. Once a rising power achieves a dominant position in the international system, it may change its policy and strategy to reflect its new capabilities and the new international environment. As a matter of course, domestic causes such as the nature of political regime, the briefs and perceptions of political leaders, and government-society relations will affect the new course taken by the brand-new dominant power.
A rising power’s strategic intentions may also inform or even change the course of others’ actions, or make the relationship between these adversaries more difficult or difficult to negotiate. Consider, in another example, the emergence of a nuclear power: In 2006, when President George W. Bush signed a nuclear deal with Iran and a decade later declared war on Iraq, it was common sense that such an action might have caused instability. Similarly, the U.S. military in 2009 announced that it was working to develop long-range, high-energy nonproliferation and nuclear weapons defense systems that could prevent a future conflict between Iraq and Iran.
And, more recently, the U.S. military has become a target for attacks, especially in light of the nuclear agreement with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the United States has long viewed as a potential nuclear weapon. In recent times, the U.S. has expanded the range of its long-range missiles to include multiple-warplanes and ships, and began to conduct operations to strike Islamic State targets. But U.S. and Iraqi military commanders believe that their combat capabilities may have been underpowered in the initial stage of the deal, and that the agreement cannot meet the needs of their nations adequately, and that their cooperation may ultimately end up diminishing. A threat that could lead to a conflict with Iran is a powerful but transient threat for a rising power’s self-interest or a threat for its rivals. A rising power in general and an adversary of the United States are particularly unpredictable. They will face significant challenges with regard to military deterrence and are likely to face challenges of U.S. strategic capabilities and U.S. political support. In other words, the threat that one rising power poses to another is similar, but in a much different way—as more than one growing power seeks to shape a state that is ultimately unstable and imperious.
Moreover, rising power behavior is the result of an enormous number of variables, including many that have never been investigated or considered before. Whether a rising power’s leaders will take matters into their own hands and choose to carry out any of these actions or to take specific steps, this information does not always mean the world is safe yet. The United States and other world powers are constantly dealing with increasing threats around the world, and policymakers should keep an eye on their increasing behavior through military and political events. Some threats may also come from rising powers, so taking actions in the name of stability may be necessary even if the actions do not pose tangible threat to U.S. national security or to the United States. It is also important to look closely at the nature of the potential problems arising from rising power behavior, and consider the circumstances under which a rise power might have some leverage over others or the ability to achieve its strategy.
As a measure of whether a rising power’s military capabilities are capable of defeating it or not, we refer to the number of ships the state can deploy: As with other types of defense, rising powers might be reluctant to put their ships under U.S. naval or air control because of their political loyalty to their governments, or they might choose to operate in limited areas with limited naval resources and limited air or surface threats because there is not sufficient ground presence to maintain U.S. air and surface defenses.
But as with other types of defense, rising powers might decide to build