Accelerated levels of globalization and an increasing need for global governance have produced widespread calls for an expansion of the United Nations, particularly from the developing world. Five emerging powers and regional hegemons of their own might - Brazil, India, South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria – are vying for a permanent seat in the United Nation’s Security Council. This paper compares the strategies these five regional hegemons pursue in order to become their region’s representatives in the global power structure and reflects on the question whether these policies help to create regional cohesion (regionness) or whether they contribute to regional tensions and increase the potential for conflicts. A last section ponders about the implications of accession of those five self-proclaimed leaders of the developing world to the UNSC, particularly on the question if that would actually bring about more regional representation and thus better reflect today’s geopolitical realities. Finally, the conclusions evaluate the value of regional representation as a solution to the dilemma of the lack of geographical representation in the UNSC.