In international relations, a regional power is a state that has power within a geographic region.^[1][2] States which wield unrivaled power and influence within a region of the world possess regional hegemony.

Characteristics[link]

Regional powers shape the polarity of a regional area. Typically, regional powers have capabilities which are important in the region but do not have capabilities at a global scale. There are slightly differing definitions of what makes a regional power. The European Consortium for Political Research defines a regional power: "A state belonging to a geographically defined region, dominating this region in economic and military terms, able to exercise hegemonic influence in the region and considerable influence on the world scale, willing to make use of power resources and recognized or even accepted as the regional leader by its neighbours".^{[1][dead link]}

The German Institute of Global and Area Studies states that a regional power must:

• be part of a definable region with its own identity
• claim to be a regional power (self-image of a regional power)
• exert decisive influence on the geographic extension of the region as well as on its ideological construction
• dispose over comparatively high military, economic, demographic, political and ideological capabilities
• be well integrated into the region
• define the regional security agenda to a high degree
• be appreciated as a regional power by other powers in the region and beyond, especially by other regional powers
• be well connected with regional and global fora.^[2]

Current regional powers[link]

Major regional powers in teal, and minor regional powers in light teal

Below are states that have been described as regional powers by international relations and political science academics, analysts, or other experts. These states to some extent meet the criteria to have regional power status, as described above. Different experts have differing views on exactly which states are regional powers. States are arranged by their region, and in alphabetic order. Primary, or major, regional powers are placed in the major regions as identified by analysts. Secondary, or minor, regional powers are listed within their subregions.

[edit] Americas

The United States is currently the sole regional power of the Americas (North and South), and is also considered the world's only super power. In Latin America, Brazil and Mexico are currently the only major regional powers. However, some states within the smaller subregions of Latin America, such as the Caribbean and the Southern Cone, are also considered by political analysts as powers in their respective zones.

•  Brazil^[3][4][5][6]
•  Mexico^{[7][8][9][10]}
•  United States^[A][11]

[edit] Southern Cone

•  Argentina^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]}

[edit] Caribbean basin

•  Colombia^[19][20]
•  Venezuela^[21][22][23]

[edit] East Asia

•  China^{[A][24][25][26][27][28][29]}
•  Japan^{[A][29][30][31]}
•  South Korea^{[29][32][33][34][35][36]}

[edit] Europe

•  France^{[A][31][37][38]}
•  Germany^{[A][31][38][39]}
•  Italy^[40][41]
•  Russia^{[A][29][31][42]}
•  United Kingdom^{[A][43][44][45]}

[edit] Eastern Europe

•  Poland^[46]
•  Ukraine^[47][48]

[edit] Middle East

•  Iran^{b[49][50][51][52][53]}
•  Israel^{a[49][51][54][55]}
•  Saudi Arabia^{b[49][50][56][57]}
•  Turkey^{a[58][59][60][61][62][63]}

[edit] Oceania

•  Australia^[64][65]

[edit] South Asia

•  India^{[49][50][66][67][68]}
•  Pakistan^[69]

[edit] Southeast Asia

•  Indonesia^[38][70]

[edit] Indochina

•  Thailand^[71]
•  Vietnam^[72]

[edit] Africa

•  South Africa^{[49][38][73][74]}
•  Nigeria^[75][76]
•  Egypt^{a[2][49][77][78]}

[edit] Southern Africa

•  Angola ^[79]

[edit] West Africa

•  Côte d'Ivoire^[80]

•  Ghana^[81]

[edit] East Africa

•  Ethiopia^[82][83]
•  Kenya^[84][85]

[edit] North Africa

•  Algeria ^[86]
•  Egypt^{a[2][49][87][88]}

See also[link]

Footnotes[link]

^a Regional powers in the Levant

^b Regional powers in the Persian Gulf

References[link]

Pepe Escobar (born 1954) is a journalist based in São Paulo, Brazil. He writes a column entitled The Roving Eye for Asia Times Online and is analyst and correspondent for The Real News Network. His article, 'Get Osama! Now! Or else...', was published by Asia Times Online two weeks before the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001; in it, he claimed that Al Qaeda was in tatters.^[1]

Bibliography[link]

• Escobar, P. 2007, Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War, Nimble Books.
• Escobar, P. 2007, Red Zone Blues: A Snapshot of Baghdad During the Surge, Nimble Books.
• Escobar, P. 2009, Obama Does Globalistan, Nimble Books.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Manning, D. & Cotton, M. 2007, 'Embedded with Power: An interview with Pepe Escobar' (part 1, part 2), Mediabite, no date.
• The Real News Network
• The Roving Eye (Asia Times Online)
• Stories by Pepe Escobar

This article about a Brazilian writer or poet is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article about a South American journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (February 2009)

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (August 2008)

Dr. John O' Brennan is a political scientist and a frequent contributor to the international media. He lectures in European Politics at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM)and is known for his research on the politics of EU enlargement policy, EU external Relations and Ireland's relationship with the European Union.^[1] He is also the Director of the Centre for the Study of Wider Europe at NUI Maynooth, an inter-disciplinary research centre dedicated to analysis of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and their position within Europe.^[2]

Education and career[link]

O' Brennan graduated from the University of Limerick with a First Class Honours Degree in European Studies and later spent one year as a Visiting Fellow at the Varna Economics University in Bulgaria. In 2001 he obtained a PhD in political science from the University of Limerick and began teaching European politics in the Department of Government and Society.^[3] In 2005 he spent three months as a Visiting Fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies in Paris.^[4] He was also awarded a post-doctoral fellowship by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences for work on the European Union's eastern enlargement.^[4] In 2007 he was appointed Lecturer in European Politics and Society within the Department of Sociology at NUI Maynooth.^[1]

He has lectured about the European Union in Bulgaria, Romania, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom^[1] and has contributed opinion pieces to a wide range of international newspapers including the Buenos Aires Herald^[5] Die Welt,^[6] El Tiempo,^[7] the Guardian,^[8] the Irish Times,^[9] the Japan Times,^[10] the Scotsman^[11] and Open Democracy.^[12]

He is also a regular contributor to the broadcast media including RTE Radio in Ireland and the BBC World Service.^[13]

Scholarly publications[link]

In addition to contributing articles to international political science journal such as the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, European Political Science, Global Society, the Journal of European Integration, O' Brennan is the author of two books about the European Union. The Eastern Enlargement of the European Union examines the normative and institutional foundations of the EU's enlargement policy and the practical politics which characterised the negotiations for the eastern expansion round.^[14] National Parliaments within the Enlarged European Union (co-edited with Professor Tapio Raunio) was published in 2007.^[15]

O' Brennan has also been an active contributor to debates on Ireland's relationship with the European Union and the problems presented by the failure of the 2008 Lisbon Treaty referendum. In October 2008 the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels published his article on possible routes to ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. O' Brennan argues that the Irish Government has little option but to hold a second referendum, and although there remains the possibility of Ireland gaining legal opt-outs from some aspects of the Lisbon Treaty, the better option would be to hold a second referendum on the simple question of whether Ireland remains a member state of the EU or departs voluntarily.^[16]

References[link]

Janice Gross Stein, O.Ont, CM, FRSC (born 1943) is a Canadian political scientist and international relations expert.

Career[link]

Stein holds degrees from McGill University (undergraduate and Ph.D.), and Yale University (masters). She has been a professor at the University of Toronto since 1982, and was named a University Professor in 1996.^[1]

Stein is the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto and Associate Chair and Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and Negotiation within the University of Toronto's political science department. She is a specialist in Middle East area studies; negotiation theory; foreign policy decision-making; and international conflict management, on which she has lectured at the Centre for National Security Studies in Ottawa and at the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy.^[2]

Stein is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Other organizational affiliations and memberships include:

• National Academy of Science's Workshop on Middle East Negotiations and the Committee on International Conflict Resolution
• Advisory Group on Cross-Cultural Negotiation
• United States Institute for Peace's Advisory Committee for Peacemaking in the 21st Century
• American Association for the Advancement of Science's Advisory Committee on Conflict Management in the Gulf
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences' Committee on Security
• Chair, International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development [1]
• Board Member, Canadian International Council

Honours[link]

Stein was selected to give the 2001 Massey Lecture. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate, and in 2003 was awarded a Trudeau Fellow.

She is the winner of the Mershon Prize for an outstanding contribution to public education on issues of national security. She has also been active as a member of important international advisory panels, including most

She has been awarded Honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Alberta, the University of Cape Breton and McMaster University.

In 2006, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.^[3] In 2007, she was awarded the Order of Ontario.^[4]

Publications and commentary[link]

Janice Stein was a long-time member of the foreign affairs panel on the TVOntario television programs Studio 2 and Diplomatic Immunity, and continues as a regular guest on The Agenda. She has also appeared on CBC Television's The National numerous times.

In the scholarly arena, Professor Stein has authored over 80 books, book chapters and articles on intelligence, international security, negotiation processes, peace-making and public policy.

Books[link]

• Networks of Knowledge
• The Cult of Efficiency

Coauthored books:

• Choosing to Cooperate: How States Avoid Loss, with Louis Pauly
• We All Lost the Cold War, with Richard Ned Lebow
• Powder Keg in the Middle East: The Struggle for Gulf Security, with Geoffrey Kemp
• Citizen Engagement in Conflict Resolution: Lessons for Canada in International Experience with David Cameron and Richard Simeon

References[link]

The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar (with Eugene Lang)

External links[link]

• Janice Stein: Brief Biography (Munk Centre for International Studies)
• Audio interview (with Eugene Lang) re: The Unexpected War