Program Areas

The three issue areas of RPI are security and cooperation, diplomacy and governance, and health and human capital. They are related because they are anchored through not just the overlapping international institutions that underpin the foundation of international order but also through the roles and relationships that individuals in these countries have in relation to that order. In other words, on the one hand, these areas speak to variation in each rising power’s path of structural transformation. This raises interesting questions of differences in their behavior on the world stage, including whether rising powers can continue to parlay their favorable structures into greater power and productivity. On the other, these areas speak to the interplay between the individuals in these rising powers and the established rules, regulations, norms, and structures that security, markets, and health provide them. This leads to questions about the effective creation of skilled labor, its impact on productivity, and the transformation of labor market allocation in these countries.

Security & Cooperation

This is a crucial defining feature of both rising powers and international order because the security norms a rising power accepts or rejects are directly related to issues of war and peace. Even more, security cooperation between and with rising powers is an important predictor of the risk of conflict.

Diplomacy & Governance

Almost by definition, rising powers occupy an increasing share of the world economy and, therefore, obtain a rising level of voice and representation in global economic institutions. RPI will track the extent to which rising powers are penetrating global markets and institutions, and the political-economic implications of those gains for the world economy, in general, and the West in particular.

Health & Human Capital

Demographics and health are not just an important (yet neglected) predictor of the capacity of rising powers but are also gauges of their advantages and disadvantages in the global production process compared to other countries. In a globalized world, the benefits of labor accrue not just to governments but also to firms, making it imperative to assess the efficacy of domestic health measures and cooperation.