Introduction

A renewed scholarly investigation into the status, composition and characteristics of the middle power is warranted by the dynamic nature of the concept. At the crux of the matter is the issue of what it means to be a middle power in the Asian Century. Andrew Cooper and Emer Dal identify three chronological waves of middlepowerdom. These waves are best thought in accumulative terms, both in regard to the additional roles that middle powers have adopted historically, and in relation to how these three phases chime with different emphasis in conceptualising these states. This chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines what actually constitutes middle power behaviour, which revolves around imprecise notions of good citizenship, norm entrepreneurship and institutional engagement. It deals with a generalistic appraisal of how regional middle powers are responding to the seismic changes brought about by the advent of an Asian Century.