This book addresses the importance of the status dimension of major powers, the potential for status competition between them, and the aspirations of regional powers to become major global powers. The authors propose a new method of assessing the extent to which both major global powers and regional powers are attributed status, whether or not such status attribution results in status underachievement or overachievement (status inconsistency), and through a variety of cases, explore the consequences of status inconsistencies for international politics. The foundational chapters are supplemented with chapters focusing on individual cases that demonstrate the status concerns of both major global powers and key regional powers.

This book explores the effects and consequences of major global power and major regional power status attribution on the foreign policies of states striving for such status and the consequences of status differentiation for the international system and the post-Cold War international order.