ABSTRACT
Since the end of WWII, small states have increased significantly in the international system, in tandem with the process of decolonisation, the proliferation of International Organisations (IOs) and the breakup of countries belonging to the socialist bloc. The definition and description of small states’ features have been controversial and ambiguous both from a qualitative and quantitative perspective. Much of the recent literature focuses on how small states adjust to a changing security environment and manage asymmetric relations with greater powers, including the implementation of strategies that imply bandwagoning, balancing, nonalignment, hedging, buck-passing, and engagement. The emergence of the Indo-Pacific (IP) as a geopolitically and geo-economically consequential region is offering a sudden pivotal position to the small states of the area, which now face a nuanced spectrum of opportunities and challenges vis-à-vis regional and global actors. The fluidity of the IP both in terms of construct and regional order and the ensuing rivalry of powers afford opportunities and spaces for geopolitical manoeuvring to the small states of the region. The small powers of the IP can now transcend the tyranny of littleness and spin those wheels, provided that a strategic vision is developed accordingly.
