1 For a thorough discussion of the concept of ‘(new) regional powers’, see Detlef Nolte's contribution to this special section.

2 Most prominently and persistently, Goldman Sachs has maintained that the BRICs, which include Brazil, Russia, India and China, will surpass the world's biggest economies in due course. See, for example, ‘The BRICs Nifty 50: The EM & DM Winners’, Goldman Sachs (4 November 2009)Google Scholar , see also, Andrew F. Cooper, Agata Antkiewicz, and Timothy M. Shaw, ‘Economic Size Trumps All Else? Lessons from BRICSAM’, CIGI Working Paper No. 12 (2006).

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9 Mark Beeson and Yoshimatsu Hidetaka, ‘Asia's Odd Men Out: Australia, Japan and the Politics of Regionalism’, CSGR Working Paper Series No. 196/06 (March 2006).

10 According to different versions realism, power capabilities are the determining factor of states’ choices. For an overview, see Schmidt, Brian C., ‘Competing Realist Conceptions of Power’, in Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 33 (2005) pp. 523–549Google Scholar .

11 Lukes, Power: A Radical View.

12 Ibid., chap. 1.

13 Ibid., pp. 11.

14 Ibid., pp. 12.

15 It should be noted at this point that domination is not the central concern of this article.

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21 Especially Burns, Leadership; also Keohane, Nannerl O., ‘On Leadership’, Perspectives on Politics, 4 (2005) pp. 705–722Google Scholar ; Schirm, Stefan, ‘Leaders in Need of Followers: Emerging Powers in Global Governance’, European Journal of International Relations (2009)Google Scholar ; Samuels, Richard J., Machiavelli's children: Leaders and their legacies in Italy and Japan. (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2003)Google Scholar ; and Young, Oran R., ‘Political Leadership and Regime Formation: On the Development of Institutions in International Society’, International Organization, 3 (1991) pp. 281–308CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

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23 Burns, Leadership, chap. 1.

24 Tallberg, Jonas, Leadership and Negotiation in the EU (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

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29 Ibid.

30 Laclau, Ernesto, ‘Identity and hegemony: The Role of universality in the constitution of political logics’, in Butler, Judith and Laclau, Ernesto and Žižek, Slavoj (eds), Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left (London: Verso, 2000), p. 47Google Scholar .

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42 Smith, , Laclau and Mouffe, p. 57Google Scholar ; Butler, Judith, ‘Restaging the Universal: Hegemony and the limits of formalism’, in Butler, Judith and Laclau, Ernesto and Žižek, Slavoy (eds), Contingency, Hegemony, Universality. Contemporary Dialogues on the Left (London/New York: Verso, 2000), pp. 11–43, 14Google Scholar ; Laclau, , On Populist Reason, p. 115Google Scholar .

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44 Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia.

45 The members of ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea.

46 ASEAN+3 plus Australia, New Zealand and India.

47 Nabers, Dirk, ‘ASEAN+3: The Failure of Global Governance and the Construction of Regional Institutions’, in Schirm, Stefan A. (ed.), New Rules for Global Markets. Public and Private Governance in the World Economy (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), pp. 215–234CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

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51 Dent, (ed.), ‘What region to lead?’, p. 3Google Scholar .

52 Rodolfo C. Severino, ‘An Emerging East Asian Community Reality or Mirage?’, Keynote Address at the Regional Conference on Common Currency for East Asia: Dream or Reality (5 August 1999).

53 Tokyo's interpretation of the crisis can be seen as exemplary in this context: ‘If we are lax in these efforts towards integration, we may invite more region-wide upheavals similar to the currency crisis. It is therefore important to understand how and in what sense this region, including Japan, is a community with common fate’. See MOFA (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan), ‘Japan-ASEAN Summit Meeting – The significance of the Prime Minister's visit’ (December 1997), {http://www.mofa.go.jp} 25 July 2000.

54 Financial Times (13 May 2001)Google ScholarPubMed .

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56 To quote foreign minister Obuchi: ‘As the largest economy in Asia, Japan feels a responsibility, despite its own very difficult situation, to do everything it can to help its East Asian friends through this time of economic trial. To date, we have contributed, both in international efforts led by IMF and in bilateral programs, a total of about 37 billion dollars -a sum that far exceeds the assistance from any extra-regional country. We will continue to exercise the leadership to support the East Asian countries in cooperation with the international community. We also intend to tailor our efforts to address the needs of the region's less developed countries hit by the economic difficulties’. MOFA (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan), ‘Statement by Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi on Japan and East Asia: Outlook for the New Millennium’ (4 May 1998), {http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/1998/5/980504.html} accessed on 9 June 2009.

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59 For a critical discussion, see Cheng, Joseph Yu-shek, ‘The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area: genesis and implications’, Australian Journal of International Relations, 2 (2004) pp. 257–277Google Scholar .

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63 For an overview, see MOFA (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan), ‘Asian Economic Crisis and Japan's Contribution’ (October 2000), {http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/asia/crisis0010.html} accessed on 10 August 2007.

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71 Nabers, ‘Social Construction’.

72 Rüland, Jürgen, ‘ASEAN and the Asian crisis: theoretical implications and practical consequences for Southeast Asian regionalism’, The Pacific Review, 3 (2000) pp. 421–451, 434–438CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; Kraft, Herman Joseph S., ‘ASEAN and intra-ASEAN relations: weathering the storm?’, The Pacific Review, 3 (2000) pp. 453–472, 454–457CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

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75 Tran Van Tho, who is professor in the School of Sciences in Tokyo's Waseda University, chaired the Japan Forum on International Relations Inc. in compiling the report ‘Economic Globalization and Options for Asia’.

76 Japan Times (14 July 2001)Google ScholarPubMed .

77 See, for example, Lewis, J., ‘Asian vs. international: Structuring an Asian Monetary Fund’, Harvard Asian Quarterly, 4 (1999)Google Scholar .

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79 MOFAT (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Korea), ‘Joint Statement on East Asia Cooperation’ (28 November 1999), {http://www.mofat.go.kr} accessed on 10 September 2001.

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81 As Singapore Prime Minister put it: ‘If we can find a way for Japan to feel confident and comfortable enough to have a free trade arrangement with China, then we can have an East Asian Free Trade Area which, of course, will the allow us to move toward and East Asian Economic Community’. Quoted in Terada, ‘Thorny Progress’, p. 6.

82 On the occasion of the China-ASEAN summit meeting in January 2007, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo emphasised she expects China to take the lead in East Asia: ‘We also look to China to take the lead in promoting good neighborly relations and regional cooperation by handling sensitive issues with surrounding countries in a matter that is guided by the spirit of equality, respect, consultation and mutual benefit’. International Herald Tribune (14 January 2007)Google Scholar .

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85 See Henning, C. Randall, East Asian Financial Cooperation (Washington DC: Institute for International Economics, 2002Google Scholar ) for a comprehensive summary of the CMI.

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89 Asia Times online (8 March 2001)Google ScholarPubMed ; see alsom MOFA (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan), ‘Japan-ASEAN Exchange Program for High School Students’ (23 May 2001), {http://www.mofa.go.jp} accesses on 25 July 2000.

90 Ibid.

91 MFAPRC (The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, People's Republic of China), ‘Work in Partnership to Promote Win-win Cooperation’, Address by Wen Jiabao, Premier of the State Council of The People's Republic of China at the Second East Asia Summit Cebu, the Philippines (15 January 2007),{http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjdt/zyjh/t290183.htm} accesses on 6 March 2007.

92 BBC Monitoring Global Newsline Asia Pacific Economic file (3 May 2009)Google Scholar .

93 Lukes, Power.

94 Burns, Leadership.

95 Due to limited space, methodological issues are not addressed in this article. A possible path towards empirical research is offered by critical discourse analysis (CDA). CDA is concerned with structural relationships of dominance, discrimination, social inequality and control as conveyed by language. It accepts the claim of an ultimate impossibility of fixing meanings by speech and recognises the role of hegemony as a process of temporal fixation. However, it is also interested in unveiling the function of discourses which are used to generate and sustain unequal social power relations and can be identified as ideologies. See, Fairclough, Norman, Analysing Discourse. Textual analysis for social research (London/New York: Routledge, 2003)Google Scholar , for an overview.

96 Ba, ‘Who's socializing whom?’

97 Ibid., p. 161.