ABSTRACT
In collective imaginaries, navies are constructed as ‘powerful’, ‘prestigious’ and ‘grand’. This chapter aims to revisit the ‘misfortune of small navies’ by framing the analysis within the concept of seapower rather than naval missions, with the aim to show that ‘small navies’ can actually be depositories of seapower, albeit not exactly in the same form as ‘big navies’. It shows that the traditional conception of seapower has contributed to a naval pecking order placing ‘small navies’ at the bottom of the hierarchy. The chapter demonstrates that post-modern seapower must be understood as a collective form of power and governance that extends far beyond naval/military considerations. ‘Small navies’ can overcome their ‘misfortune’ by participating in multinational coalition operations or exercises. The dominant Mahanian conception of seapower is framed within a political realist, modern understanding of security, where the referent objects are states and their agents, in particular military forces including navies.
