Editing Middle power (section)

=== Significance in the 21st century ===
American political analyst [[Cliff Kupchan]] describes middle powers as "countries with significant leverage in [[geopolitics]]" but that are "less powerful than the world’s two superpowers—the United States and China."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Kupchan |first=Cliff |date=2023-06-06 |title=6 Swing States Will Decide the Future of Geopolitics |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/06/06/geopolitics-global-south-middle-powers-swing-states-india-brazil-turkey-indonesia-saudi-arabia-south-africa/ |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}}</ref> Nevertheless, Kupchan argues that middle powers—particularly in the [[Global South]]—have more power, agency, and "geopolitical heft" in the 21st century (namely the 2020s) than at any time since the Second World War. He identifies Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey as leading middle powers and describes them as "swing states" that are capable of creating new power dynamics due to their nonalignment with most great powers.<ref name=":0" /> Among the shared characteristics of these six nations are membership in the [[G20]]; large and fast-growing economies; and active diplomatic involvement in major events, such as the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]] and international climate action.<ref name=":0" />

Kupchan attributes the emergence of stronger middle powers to several historical developments in the [[International order|international system]], including the weaker bipolarity between the U.S. and China (as opposed to the stricter allegiances of the Cold War and the subsequent U.S. hegemony following the [[Collapse of the soviet union|collapse of the Soviet Union]]) and the gradual trend of [[deglobalization]], which has fostered regionalized geopolitical and [[Geoeconomics|geoeconomic]] relationships wherein middle powers have comparatively greater influence; for example, the fragmenting of the international energy market has purportedly given Saudi Arabia, a major energy exporter, far more weight in now-smaller regional markets. Kupchan also notes the ability of these middle powers to capitalize on rivalries between the major powers in order to further their own influence, interests, or foreign policy initiatives.