ABSTRACT The post–1945 international order is in flux. Trump's return to the White House in 2025 marks a critical juncture, reinforcing a structural transformation characterised by intensifying US–China rivalry, the weaponisation of economic statecraft and the fragmentation of multilateralism. Middle powers—positioned at the intersection of Washington's security imperatives and Beijing's economic gravitational pull—face mounting strategic challenges, but with the requisite expertise and strategic conviction also have opportunities to reinvigorate their regional and global ambitions. This article outlines the rationale and objectives of the Special Issue, reinterpreting the theory and practice of middle powers beyond Cold War‐era behavioural models of ‘good international citizenship’ and the ‘leadership‐followship’ paradigm. Tracing the historical evolution, it proposes a more fluid, pragmatic and instrumentalist understanding of middle power agency in a post–hegemonic world—marked by renewed activism and normative pragmatism. In addition, it presents empirical case studies that illustrate how middle powers variously construct and navigate geopolitical and geoeconomic ‘middle‐ness’, shaped by a dynamic interplay of domestic ambition and international constraint. Lastly, it argues that middle powers—once the supporting buttresses in a US‐led liberal order—are asserting agency through strategic adaptability, emerging as key actors in securing a more stable and peaceful global transition.
Shin et al. (Sun,) studied this question.