Abstract

During the past decade the world has witnessed an unprecedented rise of emerging powers across the developing world. This development, accelerated by the recent global financial crisis, has led to a gradual increase of emerging powers involvement in international governance structures. Unlike the past, when the economic rise of new players such as Japan and the European Union (EU) somewhat challenged the American economic supremacy but did not alter much in the global landscape, the new wave of challengers seem to have the capabilities not only to change the balance within global governance structures but can also potentially shift the very structures themselves. To this end, emerging powers seem to increase their pressure over reform processes through their coordination as well as the institutionalization of alternatives to existing global and regional governance structures that fit more to their understanding of the world.