Rising powers and the drivers of uneven global development

Abstract

The emergence of the rising powers has been seen as heralding a fundamental shift in global economic geography. It can also be seen as the latest expression of capitalist economic development. I first consider theorizations of this development as combined, uneven and crisis-prone, with an ongoing tension between processes of differentiation and equalization. I then situate the rising powers in the context of successive patterns of global uneven development, the transformation from an Old to a New International Division of Labour and then to a ‘new’ New International Division of Labour in which the emergence of the rising powers is a major element. There are, however, significant differences among the rising powers in their economic development trajectories, in the role of the state in shaping these, and in their relationships to other economies in both global North and South. Changes at the global scale are linked to changes in the intra-national geographies of economies in the new global economic geography. I conclude with some speculative remarks as to the possible future trajectories of the rising powers and how global economic geographies might evolve in future.