From Great to Regional Power: Communication and Role Theory

Recent developments in role theory have moved away from its structural foundations and towards the inclusion of ideas on social interactionism and the construction of role conceptions. This paper seeks to contribute to the development of the mechanics and the different ways in which role expectations are expressed from seemingly more powerful to less powerful actors in the international realm. While plenty of research on the role of external ‘Others’ in shaping Ego’s foreign policy roles exists, it often stops at the analysis of policy statements by the ‘Other’ and assumes an underspecified automatism linking expectations by Others and self-conceptions of the “recipient”. Thus, the transmission belt and the actual way in which these specific ‘speech acts’ make an impact on the recipient side and its behavior remain understudied. A possible manifestation of these “expectations” is the assignment of a regional power by the US to taking over “regional responsibilities” for keeping the peace in times of crises within their regional sphere of influence. We identify three ways in which expectations can be expressed: by prescription, by imposition and by altercasting and use empirical case studies of India and Brazil to illustrate how these mechanisms work.