Middle Powers and the Case for Coalition-Building

Middle powers may be of the liberal industrialised type, major emerging economies, or regional powers from the Global South. They pursue correspondingly different agendas. Southern middle powers generally seek to balance the influence of global powers and diversify their external relations and dependencies. Recently, industrialised middle powers from the Global North have begun to seek “alliances” and coalitions with middle powers from the Global South in order to compensate for a loss of certainty and maintain international rules. Neither northern nor southern middle powers can match global powers like the US or China, nor do they intend to. But they can strengthen the international rule of law and establish the building blocks of order by forging pluriand multilateral alliances and coalitions in various areas of international and global policy. Such coalitions are often issue-specific or sectoral and are sometimes temporary. Mostly, they involve partners that aren’t necessarily like-minded in all respects. The differences between political systems make basic agreements on international regimes and institutions, principles, and rules more rather than less important.

Liberal industrialised middle powers in Europe and elsewhere have a strong interest in expanding their partnerships and coalitions on a global scale. They will have to ensure that such coalitions acquire legitimacy even beyond the states immediately involved. Therefore, even plurilateral coalitions and initiatives should be animated by a multilateral spirit that is open in principle to other states that share their underlying goals and principles.