地域大国或称区域强权,指在国际关系中,一个在某个地理区域内拥有较大影响力的国家[1][2]。这些国家被认为是控制某个地区安全性的关键国家[3],所掌握的影响力与实力能够让它们成为一地区性霸主。
地域大国通常在某个地区具有影响力,但是通常情况下,它们的影响力还不足以影响整个世界。关于地域大国的定义目前还有一定的争议,根据欧洲政治研究协会的定义,“地域大国是某个地理区域内在经济上、军事上处于主导地位,拥有控制该地区能力并在世界范围内具有一定影响力的国家。它们运用自己的实力使自己成为,或强迫该地区其他国家承认自己是该地区的领导人。”[1]
德国全球和区域研究所(German Institute of Global and Area Studies)认为地域大国必须具有以下特点:
- 与该地区具有地缘性的联系;
- 符合一个地域大国的形象;
- 能够在该地区实际思想上的影响力;
- 在人口、经济、军事、政治和意识形态上具有领先地位;
- 很高地融入该区域;
- 对地区性安全具有较高的掌控力;
- 能够得到该地区其他国家,尤其是其他地域大国的接受和赞扬;
- 能够很好地沟通地域和全球。[2]
一些国家既可以是大国,也可以是地域大国;同样的,一些国家也可以既是中等强国,又是地域大国。
以下国家是目前已经被大多数国际关系学和政治学学者、分析师或专家所认可的地域大国。这些国家在一定程度上满足上述地域大国的标准,但是对于究竟是不是地域大国,不同的学者有不同的意见,以下并非依排名排列。
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foreignaffairs.org (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆)| Ben W. Heineman, Jr., and Fritz Heimann speak of Italy as a major country or "player" along with Germany, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom, in "The Long War Against Corruption".
M. De Leonardis, Il Mediterraneo nella politica estera italiana del secondo dopoguerra, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2003, p. 17
"And in the Horn of Africa, there is Ethiopia as the regional power." See Godfrey Mwakikagile, Africa is in a Mess (Pretoria: New Africa Press, 2006), p. 31.
"Regional powers, typically Nigeria and South Africa, but also including Algeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Senegal, that are perceived as crucial to the maintenance of regional stability and therefore as "regional anchors" of counterterrorism effors." See U.S. Naval War College, American Foreign Policy: Regional Perspectives (Newport, USA: Ruger Workshop: 2009), p. 263.
"West Africa, with its strong French influence, is home to one of Africa's two regional giants, Nigeria, and the region has seen the scene of much political and ethnic unrest." See David Lynch, Trade and Globalization (Lanham, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010), p. 51.
"South Africa is not the sole regional power on the continent, though; Nigeria is the other widely acknowledge centre of power in Africa and likewise a sub-regional superpower in West Africa." See Deon Geldenhuys, "South Africa: The Idea-driven Foreign Policy of a Regional Power," in Regional Leadership in the Global System, edited by Daniel Flemes (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2010), p. 151.
"Southern Africa is home to the other of sub-Saharan Africa's regional powers: South Africa. South Africa is more than just a regional power; it is by far the most developed and economically powerful country in Africa, and now it is able to use that influence in Africa more than during the days of apartheid (white rule), when it was ostracized." See David Lynch, Trade and Globalization (Lanham, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010), p. 51.
Mubarak's game. archive.is. 2012-05-29 [2019-10-04]. 原始内容存档于2012-05-29.
Algeria: Current Issues By Carol Migdalovitz