Abstract

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has contributed to greater solidarity within the West and a growing rift between the West and the Global South. On the one hand, the United States, the European Union, and their allies such as Japan and Korea have held the line on sanctions and resolved to arm and fund Ukraine for as long as it takes to reach an acceptable settlement. On the other hand, various countries of the Global South have continued or increased their economic and defence ties with Russia or proposed peace plans that legitimize Russia’s claims on Ukrainian territory. China and India stand out among these nations as major rising powers that exercise increasingly decisive influence on global affairs. This talk will situate their responses to the Ukraine War in the historical and contemporary context of contestation between dominant and rising powers in times of global power shifts.

About the Speaker

Dr Rohan Mukherjee is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of Ascending Order: Rising Powers and the Politics of Status in International Institutions (Cambridge University Press, 2022).