The Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations  is pleased to invite you to the book presentation:

“The rise of authoritarian middle powers and what it means for world politics”

with  Prof. Marie-Eve Desrosiers, University of Ottawa
and 
Prof. Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham 

In a widely cited speech at the Davos World Economic Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called on “intermediate” powers to help construct a new world order grounded in shared values as the post–Second World War liberal order erodes. This appeal, however, rests on a deeply flawed assumption: that middle-power status is synonymous with democratic and liberal commitments of the kind associated with states such as Canada or Norway. Drawing on our new book The Rise of Authoritarian Middle-Powers and What It Means for World Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2026), we challenges that premise by highlighting a growing group of influential authoritarian middle powers that are actively contributing to the dilution of democratic norms and the unravelling of the rules-based international order.

States such as Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates wield substantial regional and transnational influence, yet they remain systematically under-analysed due to a scholarly and policy fixation on great powers, particularly China and Russia—a tendency likely to intensify amid recent shifts in U.S. foreign policy. Using comparative case studies, the presentation shows how authoritarian middle powers combine hard power, transnational repression, strategic hedging, and international legitimation to advance their interests. Far from stabilising the international system, these strategies accelerate democratic recession, fragment global governance, and complicate efforts to renew international liberalism. Understanding them better is therefore an essential prerequisite for building a fairer, more stable and less repressive world.

Please note that this in an in-person event.

Please register by 16 March.

(Photo credit: Canva teams)