The nature of interstate conflicts pivoting on the status of each state's power has been the subject of a vast set of theoretical debates in the discipline of international relations. The role of emerging powers in these conflicts has been hitherto analysed from various perspectives, from being the central member of a conflict, to an indirectly involved member who benefits from a prevailing great power conflict, and perhaps having a role in initiating great power reactions, both malign and benign (Mearsheimer, Reference Mearsheimer2014; Colucci, Reference Colucci2015: 44–53; Gilpin, Reference Gilpin1981; Thucydides, Reference Thucydides and Crawley2017). This intriguing work complements Gilpin and Thucydides, and to a lesser extent, Mearsheimer in its theoretical contributions, while bringing together emerging power–great power conflicts and its implications for great power conflicts in the international arena.

The introductory chapter outlines the aim of the book, namely, the positing of the noticeable trend of emerging power–great power conflicts, which could result in great power–great power conflicts due to a rise in emerging power–great power alliances aimed at countering the emerging power–great power conflicts of the international arena (Freddy and Bijukumar, Reference Freddy and Bijukumar2024: 9–10). To this end, it sets the stage for the analysis in the rest of the volume, by briefly discussing the various aspects of power (Freddy and Bijukumar, Reference Freddy and Bijukumar2024: 4–10), and offering an extensive discussion on the concept of great and emerging power (10–18). The second chapter sketches the nuances of the power transition theory, the core framework of the book (Freddy and Bijukumar, Reference Freddy and Bijukumar2024: 25–33). Notable in these chapters is the comprehensive discussion on the concept of power, beyond the prism of realism or the discipline of international relations.

As an excellent analysis, the next chapter meticulously places the US-China rivalries in the context of the theoretical debates of the discipline and the above-mentioned aim of this book, while also narrating the expression of this rivalry not only in the global arena, but its spillover effects into various regions (Freddy and Bijukumar, Reference Freddy and Bijukumar2024: 37–57). The following chapter on the US-Russia rivalries (Freddy and Bijukumar, Reference Freddy and Bijukumar2024: 61–82), while chronicling said rivalries in detail from the Cold War, could be enhanced by an increased focus on theoretical debates, as in the preceding chapter.

The next chapter on the China-India rivalries benefits from the narration of the nuances of the Sino-Indian relations, especially contextualized in Mearsheimer's offensive realism and its consequent predictions for China (Freddy and Bijukumar, Reference Freddy and Bijukumar2024: 91–105). The concluding chapter is another outstanding part of the book, offering a well-balanced summary of the theoretical contributions of this work, as well as outlining the possible implications of the arguments and conclusions of this research for the international arena in the future (Freddy and Bijukumar, Reference Freddy and Bijukumar2024: 111–16).

This work significantly contributes to the discussion on trends of interstate conflicts, by adding to the discussion on emerging power–great power conflicts that are seen to be a trend in the contemporary world. The ideas, discussions and analyses of this work are coherently and lucidly written, and the structure of the work enables better intellectual engagement with the content presented here. The indication of the presence of ideological factors that drive an emerging power to assert itself in its relationship with a great power, for several historical reasons, is noteworthy. The attempts to place the discussions of the cases in the context of the theoretical framework offers a better perspective to the audience.

Most notably, this work not only complements the Thucydidean assertions as a part of core realist claims, but sets the contemporary trend of emerging power–great power conflicts in the historical context of the observations of Thucydides from around twenty-five centuries back. In that sense, this work is not only a contribution to the theoretical discussions on interstate conflicts, but, to an extent, is also an indispensable theoretical contribution to the debates on area studies and international history.

The book would have benefitted from a more detailed discussion of the points that revolve around the contrary characterization of China in two case studies. To begin with, the characterization of China as an emerging power in the first case study and as a great power in the final case study is hazy. If such a categorization is due to the states China is dealing with in each scenario, the extent of influence of these two states—the United States as the great power vis-à-vis China in the global arena and India as the emerging power vis-à-vis China in the regional arena—a better account of the same could have been explained. This would also lead to a discussion on the conception and characteristics of emerging powers and great powers at the regional level and the same at the global level. If, on the other hand, the point was to indicate the presence of the trend of emerging power–great power conflicts both at the global and regional level, then perhaps a more detailed reasoning for the selection of India as a regional case, instead of a state like Japan, would greatly enhance this discussion. On this note, another discussion that could have been considered is the conflicts between emerging powers of regional influences and great powers whose obvious influence reaches to all parts of the global arena to some extent.

Another aspect that would have been enhanced by a more detailed explanation is the great power–great power conflicts as a result of the aforementioned emerging power–great power conflicts. Particularly, the first case of the US-China rivalries gives one to wonder which great power would be in conflict with the United States as a consequence of the said rivalries. Possible responses could be Russia or the European Union, but they are not without their own complexities.

To sum up, this is an excellent work that complements several ground-breaking contributions to the theoretical discussions of international relations by succeeding in its aim of establishing the rising trend of emerging power–great power conflicts, and its implications for the possibility of conflicts among great powers. As such, it is not only of the utmost interest to scholars specializing in the changing trends of interstate conflicts, the changing nature of the challengers to existing power holders or the reasons for the emergence of an emerging power as a dominant stakeholder in the international arena, but also to a much wider, general audience that is interested in the discipline of international relations. It is also of interest to students wishing to inform themselves in understanding a part of the international history of the Cold War and the post–Cold War period, both at the mainstream and the parallelly evolving Sino–Indian rivalries, from a theoretical perspective.