Hannes Ebert

Power, Territory and Learning: Explaining Pakistan’s Persistent Contestation

In this chapter, Ebert and Blarel examine the drivers of Pakistan’s failed efforts to contest rising India since overt nuclearization of both rivals in 1998. They apply the perspective of Maoz and Mor’s evolutionary approach to rivalry maintenance to demonstrate how the secondary regional power’s dissatisfaction, perceived symmetry, and dysfunctional learning have contributed to the persistence of contestation. The model reveals how the cognitive denial of failure to achieve revisionist goals, tied to a bounded rationality within the military institution, the political benefits of warmongering, and the possession of nuclear weapons have driven Pakistan’s contestation of India’s regional dominance.

Regional Leadership and Contestation: Strategic Reactions to the Rise of the BRICS

How do rising regional powers translate regional military dominance or economic superiority into political leadership, and how do secondary regional powers respond? The chapter addresses these questions in four steps. First, it discusses the evolving International Relations (IR) Security Studies scholarship on contested leadership and identifies the research gaps of regional void, conceptual ambiguity, structural bias, and inattention to change in this literature. Second, it defines primary and secondary regional powers and develops a concept of contested leadership. Third, it outlines how the volume’s individual chapters address the research gaps. Finally, it compares their findings and joint contributions to the broader study of contested leadership in IR.