The Global Disorder research group warmly invites you to attend the launch of Sasikumar Sundaram’s new book, Rhetorical Powers: How Rising States Shape International Order, a study of power and hierarchy in international politics.

The book will be launched on Tuesday, 10 March 2026, from 17:00 to 18:30 (GMT) in D427 (Rhind Building) at City St George’s, University of London. The event is free and open to academics, students, staff, and members of the public.

In Rhetorical Powers, Dr Sasikumar Sundaram examines how India, Brazil, and China deploy rhetoric as a form of power within a hierarchical international system. Rather than treating global order as structured solely by military and economic capabilities, the book foregrounds language, norms, and discursive strategy as central tools of statecraft.

The book advances three core claims.

First, silencing is built into global order. Drawing on feminist and postcolonial insights, Sundaram shows how international rules and institutions marginalise Global South voices.

Second, not all states remain silent. For non-Western policymakers navigating Western dominance, rhetoric becomes a strategic weapon rooted in long-standing anti-imperial and anti-colonial traditions.

Third, these policymakers continually innovate their rhetorical repertoires. By bending and reinterpreting global norms, they seek not only recognition but influence within the structures of international hierarchy.

Through its comparative analysis of India, Brazil, and China, the book challenges conventional realism, theories of rhetorical entrapment, and strands of postcolonialism. It offers a new framework for understanding how power politics operates under conditions of structural inequality.

The launch event will feature a panel of scholars. Firstly, Professor John Hobson, Emeritus Professor at the University of Sheffield, known for his influential critique of Eurocentrism. Secondly, Dr Ida Roland Birkvad, LSE Fellow in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, whose work engages international political theory and postcolonial politics.

The discussion will be chaired by Professor Inderjeet Parmar, Professor of International Politics at City, University of London, whose research focuses on Anglo-American foreign policy elites and crises of liberal order.

Registration is required and can be done through City St George’s website.