Pivotal players or passive pawns? The foreign policy of small island developing states (SIDS) in the Indo-Pacific vis-à-vis major players

Abstract

This qualitative study analyses the foreign policy orientations of four Small Island Developing States situated in the Indo-Pacific – Solomon Islands, Fiji, Seychelles and Mauritius – vis-à-vis major players in the international system. Fundamentally, the study grapples with the tension between traditional scholarship, which predominantly portrays small states as passive actors in the international system, and emerging literature that challenges this narrative and highlights their agency. A thematic analysis of official government speeches from these states between 2017 and 2024 is conducted, employing Marijke Breuning’s theoretical framework for analysing small state foreign policy as an emblematic framework reflecting the core assumptions of traditional small state foreign policy conduct. This study evaluates the framework’s explanatory power for these states. Additionally, elite interviews with government officials from the selected states supplement the findings by validating and deepening the insights from the thematic analysis.

The findings reveal that Breuning’s dependency-based framework, exemplative of the traditional scholarship, is unable to accurately account for the foreign policy orientations of these states. Instead, by integrating aspects of Holsti’s role theory, this study asserts that these states enact the roles of ‘pioneer’ and ‘activist-challenger’, contrasting sharply with Breuning’s conceptions of compliant and counter-dependent foreign policies. Building on these findings, this study contributes to the extant literature by proposing a framework that articulates an alternative category of small state foreign policy orientations.

The framework further expands the current literature by proposing five alternative sources of power for what is identified as ‘Ocean States’: power through position, engagement in international and regional organisations, possession of valued resources, narrative influence, and moral suasion. Ultimately, the study provides an alternative framework for the analysis of the foreign policies of Ocean States that can serve as an analytical tool for scholars and practitioners alike. By reframing small states’ agency and challenging the core assumptions of traditional small state scholarship, this study broadens theoretical approaches and reconceptualises concepts such as power and dependence. This contributes to a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of these Ocean States in the international system, repositioning them from passive pawns to pivotal players.