Theories of small states' foreign and security policies and the Gulf States

Abstract

The interest in small states' foreign and security policies has been cyclical and is a reflection of the evolution of the international system. During the decolonization period between the 1950s and 1970s, the main interest at the time concerned the survival of small states in a world characterized by the domination of the two superpowers. This chapter looks at both the foreign and security policy outcomes and processes of the small Gulf States. It reviews the traditional debate about the definition of small states, followed by the examination of small states' foreign and security policy options or foreign and security policy outcomes. The chapter provides a theoretical approach that combines both external and internal factors to make sense of small states' foreign and security policies. For the realists and the neo-realists, small states' foreign and security policy options are by definition limited and imposed by the structural dynamics of the international system.