Middle Power Diplomacy in an Age of U.S.-China Tensions

{
  "authors": [
    "Erik Brattberg"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "EP",
  "programs": [
    "Europe"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "Iran"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Policy"
  ]
}

In The Media

Middle Power Diplomacy in an Age of U.S.-China Tensions

A loose collection of like-minded, mid-sized players who also are traditional U.S. democratic allies have reinforced partnerships with one another and increasingly taken it upon themselves to press forward with multilateral solutions to various regional and global challenges in the absence of leadership from Washington.

By Erik Brattberg

Published on Mar 23, 2021

Washington Quarterly

About the Author

Erik Brattberg

Former Director, Europe Program, Fellow

Erik Brattberg was director of the Europe Program and a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. He is an expert on European politics and security and transatlantic relations.

Recent Work

Commentary
How the Transatlantic Relationship Has Evolved, One Year Into the Biden Administration
- +11
  Cornelius Adebahr, Dan Baer, Rosa Balfour, …
Paper
China’s Influence in Southeastern, Central, and Eastern Europe: Vulnerabilities and Resilience in Four Countries
- +1
  Erik Brattberg, Philippe Le Corre, Paul Stronski, …

Foreign Policy Iran

Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie India

Paper
Threading the Needle: India’s Path Forward with China
After the chill in ties between 2020 and 2024 that brought India–China relations to their lowest point in several decades, the two countries have engaged each other afresh. This paper argues that there are predominantly four imperatives guiding India’s approach to China, and they exist in an order of priority.
Saheb Singh Chadha
Article
Managing Divergence: India’s BRICS Presidency in 2026
This piece argues that India’s central challenge is not managing a single flashpoint but resolving the underlying tension between expansion and institutional coherency of the BRICS grouping.
Vrinda Sahai
Article
India–Africa Strategic Partnership: Challenges, Potential, and Possible Pathways
A partnership between India, a country of subcontinental size, and Africa, a continent of fifty-four countries, may seem asymmetric until one notes that both are home to nearly the same number of people—1.4 billion. This essay spells out the existing challenges to the partnership, its optimal potential, and the possible pathways to realize it over the next quarter-century.
Rajiv Bhatia
Commentary
Emerging From the “Zombie State” of Trade Agreements: The India-EU FTA
The India–EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is shaping up to be one of the most consequential trade negotiations, both economically and strategically. But, what’s in the agreement, what’s missing, and what will determine its success in the years ahead
Vrinda Sahai, Nicolas Köhler-Suzuki
Research
India and a Changing Global Order: Foreign Policy in the Trump 2.0 Era
Trump 2.0 has unsettled India’s external environment—but has not overturned its foreign policy strategy, which continues to rely on diversification, hedging, and calibrated partnerships across a fractured order.
+6
Milan Vaishnav, ed., Sameer Lalwani, Tanvi Madan, …

Middle Power Diplomacy in an Age of U.S.-China Tensions

More Work from Carnegie India

Paper

Threading the Needle: India’s Path Forward with China

After the chill in ties between 2020 and 2024 that brought India–China relations to their lowest point in several decades, the two countries have engaged each other afresh. This paper argues that there are predominantly four imperatives guiding India’s approach to China, and they exist in an order of priority.

Saheb Singh Chadha

Article

Managing Divergence: India’s BRICS Presidency in 2026

This piece argues that India’s central challenge is not managing a single flashpoint but resolving the underlying tension between expansion and institutional coherency of the BRICS grouping.

Vrinda Sahai

Article

India–Africa Strategic Partnership: Challenges, Potential, and Possible Pathways

A partnership between India, a country of subcontinental size, and Africa, a continent of fifty-four countries, may seem asymmetric until one notes that both are home to nearly the same number of people—1.4 billion. This essay spells out the existing challenges to the partnership, its optimal potential, and the possible pathways to realize it over the next quarter-century.

Rajiv Bhatia

Commentary

Emerging From the “Zombie State” of Trade Agreements: The India-EU FTA

The India–EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is shaping up to be one of the most consequential trade negotiations, both economically and strategically. But, what’s in the agreement, what’s missing, and what will determine its success in the years ahead

Vrinda Sahai, Nicolas Köhler-Suzuki

Research

India and a Changing Global Order: Foreign Policy in the Trump 2.0 Era

Trump 2.0 has unsettled India’s external environment—but has not overturned its foreign policy strategy, which continues to rely on diversification, hedging, and calibrated partnerships across a fractured order.

- +6
Milan Vaishnav, ed., Sameer Lalwani, Tanvi Madan, …