Two trends characterize the contemporary international system: the rise of powers like China and India, and the increasing importance of regions and regional security organizations. So far, both trends have mostly been described and analyzed separately. This is unfortunate, because the interaction between rising states and their adjacent regions poses highly relevant questions. Theoretical expectations even within theoretical families vary considerably. For example, while some realists expect that rising states will use (weak) institutions to dominate their neighborhood, others expect that strong regions will “socialize” rising states by drawing them into regional institutions. Building on an assessment of the theoretical literature, the paper will compare the interaction between rising states and regional institutions by looking at three regions where, traditionally, the US exerted strong influence and which now witness the rise of a regional power: Latin America where Brazil is about to establish itself as a new power, South East Asia where China is increasingly challenging the U.S.’ influence, and Europa, where US influence is counterbalanced by the heightened profile of the European Union.
