The survival of small states in the Gulf region: COVID-19, pandemic politics and the future of niche diplomacy

The Gulf is increasingly recognized as one of the most dynamic and unstable regions in the international system. Within the region, the survival of small states can no longer be taken for granted and power relations are conflictual. The hegemonic ambitions of larger regional state actors draw small states into a contested orbit and emphasize the fluidity of pre-existing notions of the balance of power. This has led to forms of fragmentation. Small states can no longer sit comfortably under the shelter of regional and even external super-powers. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small states like Kuwait and Qatar is a useful prism to examine the ways in which such small states attempt to project power and sovereignty through their diplomatic responses. Our argument, here, is that such discourse is framed as part of an ideational and material construct for state resilience within a regional and international system that is perceived as predatory. Yet pandemic politics reveals both the opportunities and limits of such approaches.

Economic Adaptability in the Absence of Democratic Corporatism: Explaining Lithuania's Export Performance

Viewed in light of democratic corporatism literature, Lithuania is a deviant case. Although it lacks essential institutional prerequisites deemed important for export success and flexible adaptation to external shocks, the small Baltic country has been among the best performers in the European Union on these dimensions. Lithuania has become very internationally integrated and has managed to quickly adjust to numerous shocks, such as the Russian financial crisis of 1998–99, the Global Financial Crisis of 2008–2009, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we analyse Lithuania's export specialization and show how particular institutional elements have supported flexible adaptation and competitiveness improvements: we cover the labour market, state's involvement in terms of domestic compensation and public goods provision, education and skills, and the role of political legitimacy. Lithuania's case has implications for the literature on the political economy of small states and the debate regarding the middle-income trap © 2022 Vytautas Kuokštis, Ramūnas Vilpišauskas. Published by Vilnius University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Small States and COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities for Multilateralism

This article tests one of the core theses in the burgeoning literature on small states, which asserts that small states must seek shelter within larger organizations or in partnership with large states in order to mitigate their inherent vulnerabilities and build resilience against externally originating shocks. This article tests this theory by conducting comparative case study analysis to investigate how small states have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the extent to which small states have been seeking shelter that is economic, political, and societal from existing multilateral frameworks, as well as the conditions under which they are developing new work-arounds when the existing multilateral arrangements have not functioned as intended. These ad hoc multilateral and minilateral arrangements, necessitated by the crisis, have filled the gap when the expected benefits of collective security have not been forthcoming from long-standing frameworks, yet they also reveal how a more unified and proactive approach to remedying the failings of existing, credible multilateral frameworks would serve to maximize and spread the benefits more widely, rather than fragmenting efforts and unevenly distributing the gains. Consequently, while the conclusion acknowledges small state successes in coalition building, innovation, flexibility, and proactivity in harnessing multilateralism or developing sovereign initiatives to respond to this crisis in the short term, it also highlights several emergent problems that will require shoring up and remedying the failings of existing regional and international multilateral mechanisms in the long term. The article closes by offering several recommendations, including the critical necessity of commitment from large counterparts to overhaul international financial mechanisms to ensure that no small states get left behind in the pandemic recovery. © 2023 The authors.

GEOPOLITICS OF QATAR NATURAL GAS IN THE ERA OF HYDROCARBON MARKETS TRANSFORMATION: SMALL STATE APPROACH

Using the elements of the ‘small state' theory, the article examines interconnections between Qatar's foreign policy priorities and existing challenges to Doha's presence at the natural gas markets caused by the impact of the US shale revolution, beginning of the global energy transition, and COVID-19 pandemic. The study argues that Qatar's previous efforts aimed at the development of its export-oriented LNG industry allowed the Emirate to fund and pursue a foreign policy strategy that was uncommon for a small state. Since the late-1990es, Qatar's diplomacy was based on the principles of complexed risks hedging that allowed maintaining the substantial degree of independence rather than more typical "bandwagoning” or "balancing” used by other "small states”. During the last two decades, Doha was also more oriented towards interaction with players outside of the Gulf Cooperation Council. At the same time, the ongoing transformations of the hydrocarbon markets created a threat to the sustainability of the main financial source that is finding the current model of Qatar's foreign policy behavior—LNG exports. Under these circumstances, the country must fight for its place in the market, ensuring sustainable demand for its main export product. This, in turn, forces Doha to re-adjust its relations with both LNG consumers and its main market rivals to maintain the sufficient inflow of financial revenues from energy exports that helps Qatar to pursue a more active and independent foreign policy than the so-called "small states” can traditionally afford. However, it was the same experience of the risk hedging strategy traditionally applied by the Qatari leadership that allowed Doha to develop the set of response measures to emerging challenges. © 2021 Foundation for Good Politics

Participating in Negotiation of a New Ocean Treaty Under the Law of the Sea Convention – Experiences of and Lessons From a Group of Small-Island Developing States

Negotiations are currently underway into establishing a new international agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. This paper discusses some of the experiences and challenges faced by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a regional group of small island developing States, in the negotiation of this agreement. The group has been engaged as a bloc since the preparatory stage of the process. The process has now advanced well into an inter-governmental conference, which had an original mandate for four sessions, but will be extended for at least one more session in August 2022. CARICOM has managed to innovate, adapt and access and pool resources in order to be relevant and impactful participants throughout the ongoing negotiations and in face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some suggestions are offered with a view to ensuring continued meaningful involvement of the group in the remainder of the negotiations, as well as in future ocean related multilateral processes. Copyright © 2022 Hassanali.

Centrifugal forces in a hegemonic environment: the rise of small-state coalitions in the Economic and Monetary Union

A hegemonic power can guarantee the status quo in an international economic system. However, domestic or international changes may unsettle a hegemon’s priorities. In such phases, smaller states benefiting from the existing system may fear that the hegemon will fail to keep the system stable. How do they react if they lose trust in the hegemon’s ability or will to maintain the status quo? This article argues that in such cases, free riding becomes less rewarding. Therefore, smaller states build publicly visible coalitions to ‘voice’ their preferences. Applying this argument to the role of small ‘creditor states’ in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the article draws on original in-depth interviews to analyze the ‘New Hanseatic League’ as a strategy to defend the present euro regime and counterbalance the Franco–German tandem. By elaborating and tracing a fine-grained causal mechanism, the article thus explains the emergence of vocal small-state coalitions in a hegemonic environment.