How does the interaction of power at the global-regional nexus impact the behavior of regional powers? Neorealism predicts that changes in polarity accompany changes in expectations regarding great power behavior. The cases below consider strategic approaches to crisis mediation pursued by regional powers Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Russia under conditions of bipolarity, unipolarity, and multipolarity to assess the impact of the international system’s structure on regional power behavior. Consistently, the cases in this article show regional powers adopting roles that seek to preempt great power involvement, regardless of the regional power’s orientation toward the system. Even if different polarities generate variations in uncertainty among great powers at the international level, as neorealism predicts, those variations do not filter any clarity regarding great power intentions down to the regional level. This consistency in regional power behavior may provide a baseline for analysis as emerging multipolarity increases the complexity of regional disputes.

全球-区域关系中的权力互动如何影响区域大国的行为？新现实主义预测极性的变化会伴随着对大国行为的期望的变化。下面的案例考虑了区域大国沙特阿拉伯，巴西和俄罗斯在双极性，单极性和多极性条件下采取的危机调解战略方法，以评估国际体系结构对区域大国行为的影响。一致地，本文中的案例表明，地区大国采取的作用是试图抢占大国，而不论地区大国对制度的方向如何。正如新现实主义所预测的那样，即使不同的极性在国际上造成了大国之间不确定性的变化，这些变化并没有过滤掉有关大国意图直至地区层面的任何清晰性。随着新出现的多极化增加了地区争端的复杂性，地区权力行为的这种一致性可以为分析提供基准。