Chapter 13 of the textbook approaches the shifting of power dynamics among major countries in the world, with an important theme, of course, being the threat of China overtaking us as the world’s greatest superpower but other rising powers as well. These countries are labeled under the acronym BRICS- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, all of which are reshaping geopolitics across the globe with their increasing influence. But if these are the countries that are going shape world politics, it does not give us a clear picture of what it would look like, given how different the policies and overall worldview of these states are.
Some countries pose different threats than others. Putin’s Russia, for instance, wants to expand its influence in global affairs through “a muscular form of nationalism” and to “replace the liberal international order with a multi-polar system that tolerates state capitalism and authoritarian state”. In China, however, some economic liberals claim that the nation “benefits the global economy and has an interest in preserving international cooperation and many liberal global norms," and that maintaining positive relationships and a good trade system is healthy for the American economy. The textbook, however, provides examples of evidence against assumption from various theorists’ perspectives, sympathizing a bit with the skepticism that realists have on this issue, that even if China continues to rise under the liberal economic order that it will continue to undermine the United States and “become more adversarial and aggressive toward established powers that it believes are hampering is rise to global prominence.” However, it also notes that tremendous growth seen under many of these countries’ market-friendly policies contradicts the mercantilist view that a good economy needs state control. It also provides some questioning of the structuralist assumption that global capitalism...