Medium Power Strategy Revisited
Some fifteen years ago I set out, in a book called Maritime Strategy for Medium Powers,
some ideas as to the principles by which such powers could conduct their
maritime affairs in the foreseeable
future – a future which should be subject to the minimum number of assumptions.
That caveat has been justified by events since, principally by the destruction of the
assumption that the bipolar world and associated Cold War would continue
indefinitely. It is therefore an opportune moment to examine whether the
theories of medium-power maritime strategy, such as they are, have survived
intact or need to be modified.
One critical assumption, however, must be made and
needs to be stated. It is that the nation-state is and will remain the
principal unit of account in the world’s strategic dealings. That is not
statement that would pass unchallenged on the other side of the world. The
experience of Europe, and maybe to some extent the United States, over past years
has tempted many to wonder if the primacy of the nation-state has given way to
other elements of the global village : federal institutions, structure
alliances, multi-national corporations, irredentist factions, non-governmental
organizations, powerful and media-supported special interest groups. Those
complexities and doubts are perceived as less far-reaching in this part of the
globe; and for what it is worth I go along with that perception. But, even if they are given less weight in
the Asia-Pacific region, account must be taken of these developments - for which a convenient shorthand is
globalization – in any re-analysis of medium-power strategy.
