The Role and Practical Path of Small and Medium-Sized Countries in Global Governance: A Case Study of the Participation Practices of the Lancang-Mekong Countries

Zhicheng Duan ()
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Zhicheng Duan: Lancang-Mekong International Vocational Institute, Yunnan Minzu University

A chapter in Proceedings of the 2026 3rd International Conference on Applied Economics, Management Science and Social Development (AEMSS 2026), 2026, pp 594-600 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In the traditional Western-dominated global governance system, small and medium-sized countries (SMEs) have long been positioned as “rule takers” and “beneficiaries of governance,” relegated to the periphery of the international system. With profound changes in the global governance landscape and the rise of regional multilateral cooperation, SMEs, represented by the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation countries, are achieving a systematic leap in their roles through sub-regional cooperation. This paper, based on the theoretical evolution of SME participation in global governance and using the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism as a core case study, demonstrates that SMEs are undergoing four major role transformations: from “rule takers” to “co-rule makers,” from “passive beneficiaries” to “providers of public goods,” from “dependents in great power games” to “strategic balancers,” and from “ideological followers” to “pioneers in the practice of a community with a shared future for mankind.” The study finds that SMEs can enhance their discourse power and strategic autonomy through regional cooperation, providing a replicable path for the democratization of global governance and opening a new paradigm for the participation of Global Southern countries in global governance.

Keywords: Small and Medium-Sized Countries; Global Governance; Lancang-Mekong Cooperation; Regional Multilateralism; Strategic Autonomy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:advbcp:978-94-6239-672-2_57

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DOI: 10.2991/978-94-6239-672-2_57

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