In this dissertation, I reckoned with the evolving landscape of global hegemonies and explore what a shift in power means for developing countries.I began with tracing the evolution of global networks and leaders from 1965-2020, using data on diplomatic exchanges, trade, and aid. Towards the 21st Century, Japan and China emerged as non-Western powers across all network types and also brought with them new aid distribution patterns. I also found that the number of central countries in trade and aid networks decreased over time, indicating consolidation rather than diversification of influential nations. A simultaneous decline in the number of distinct trade clusters pointed towards greater integration into a globalized economy while also maintaining a hierarchical divide between a few core countries and the rest of the world. Then, I focused on Sino-African relationships to further describe China’s rising hegemonic power with a comparative analysis of China's trade and aid relationships with Sub-Saharan Africa from 1996 to 2020 and 2000 to 2017, respectively, compared to the United Kingdom and United States. I found neo-imperial tendencies in China's trade and aid patterns, surpassing Western counterparts in importing natural resources and fostering dependency relationships, particularly with more corrupt nations which were more likely to benefit from China’s aid. Finally, I explored how a country’s global embeddedness influenced fertility change through the lens of Developmental Idealism (DI) and modernization. I examined how Total Fertility Rates (TFR) related to a country’s centrality score and gross national income (GNI) over time, and how these relationships varied according to the country’s development status as defined by the World Bank. I found that only lower-middle and low-income countries aligned with modernization theory and saw decreased fertility with economic growth, while high-income nations experienced increased TFR with rising GNI. Notably, the poorer countries displayed a stronger negative association between centrality and fertility, suggesting a heightened susceptibility to international fertility norms embodied by DI.