ABSTRACT
The distinction between traditional and emerging middle powers was intended to deal with a growing and divergent list of states considered to be middle powers. Middle powers are mid-range states that seek international stability and predictability. The problem with the traditional-emerging middle power distinction is that non-traditional middle powers display highly varied international behaviour. More specifically, not all support the liberal hegemonic order and many desire a multipolar international system. However, great power transition is a source of instability, while multipolarity is likely to be more unstable than present-day unipolarity. This means that many would-be emerging middle powers do not behave as middle powers, rendering the emerging middle power category meaningless. The solution is to abandon the emerging-traditional middle power distinction and to reserve the middle power term for states that behave the way we associate with traditional middle powers, that is, as stabilisers of the international system.
