Following a Middle Way: How Rising Powers Navigate Sovereignty Debates in Peacebuilding

Abstract The role of rising powers in world politics has been growing. However, their influence on the international peace and security architecture is still to be evaluated. This article assesses their potential impact by analyzing how they reconceptualize “sovereignty” in peacebuilding debates. We investigate the extent to which they engage in norm entrepreneurship by analyzing the conceptualizations of sovereignty of three rising powers (Brazil, South Africa, and Turkey) and comparing them to those of the permanent members (P5) of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Our analysis focuses on the conceptualizations of sovereignty presented in speeches in peace-related meetings at the UNSC and in peace-related resolutions between 1991 and 2020. We show that sovereignty conceptualizations at the UNSC are situated along a spectrum, with the rising powers occupying a middle ground. By disaggregating different dimensions of sovereignty, we demonstrate that the rising powers neither align with post-Westphalian views of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States (P3), where peacebuilding priorities override sovereignty, nor with Westphalian views of China and Russia, which limit international peacebuilding activities to a strict respect of sovereignty. Instead, our results indicate that rising powers distinguish themselves from both extremes by embracing a view on sovereignty that prioritizes national ownership.