Steering a middle path in Sino-US rivalry: contending middlepowerism and South Korea’s challenges

Abstract Deepening Sino-US rivalry is motivating Cold War-style bloc diplomacy, undermining post-1945 institutionalism. This presents extensive challenges to states at the crossroads where the interests of Beijing and Washington collide. How do those states—loosely, ‘middle powers’—maintain their relevance in a changing order? Can a middle-power strategy outweigh the risk of being side-lined by US-China rivalry? Is the middle-power concept still relevant today? The concept evolved from initial formulations of ‘good international citizen’ committed to multilateral institution-building. But a new bifurcated world requires redefinition of middlepowerism. This article proposes a comparative analytical template to interrogate middle-power diplomacy. It empirically examines how South Korea defines national interest and how it seeks a compelling diplomatic edge at a time of great power politics. The article concludes by examining South Korea’s future international challenges.