The Centre for Rising Powers stems from the burgeoning interest in scholarly and policy circles in the emergence of new powers, the so-called BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). It is the first initiative of its kind that goes beyond the attention to the immediate cases to focus on the fundamental theoretical and empirical puzzle: how do new powers rise, how might they be accommodated, and what impact do these interactions generate on systemic stability. Its research program is thus just as interested in the threats and opportunities posed by the rise of new powers in the past (such as Germany, Japan, the United States and the former Soviet Union in the 20th century) as the emergence of new powers today (such as India, China, and Brazil).