Emerging regional powers such as India, Brazil and South Africa pose a challenge to the global order, but it is not always clear what and how fundamental that challenge is. This edited volume highlights various dimensions and interpretations of that challenge, arguing that it is characterized by internal tensions. On the one hand these states pursue the global redistribution of material, institutional, and symbolic resources in the name of promoting global justice. They also promote South-South solidarity by providing modest amounts of assistance to selected least developed states. On the other hand, regional powers gain at least some of their global legitimacy and identities from their largely unacknowledged role as pillars of an order that undermines the opportunities for redistributive change. Their domestic politics and regional policies also place distinct limits on the extent of the global redistribution that they can pursue credibly.

This book was published as a special issue of Global Society.