Author Description

This study presents an assessment of small state power as it relates to foreign policy in South Asia and the application of operational art through security engagements to meet political aims. U.S. interests are at risk in this region and success is dependent upon the most efficient engagement of regional players to counter Chinese military, economic, and political aims. Security cooperation provides a cost-efficient way to counter Chinese economic alliances with small states in the region. A true mitigation of Chinese challenges to the existing security order in the Indo-Pacific requires the continuous presence of multiple dilemmas through expanded security cooperation with small states.This compilation also includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.When discussing with his peers and publisher before writing his 2003 work on small states, Peter J. Katzenstein was repeatedly asked, "Since nobody cares about small states why waste so much time writing about them?" It is a pertinent question given the topic of this paper and the limited attention given to the subject by scholars in the last decade. One is tempted to write small states off as extras in the primary plot narrative between great powers. For sure, prior to the post-World War II international order, great powers interacted with small states, or through them, in just such a way. Their importance was measured only in terms of the cost-benefit to invade them - or not - on the way to larger objectives (e.g., Poland and Switzerland in World War II), or the potential strategic complication they begot if threatened (for example, Germany's decision not to invade Holland in 1914). Numerous definitions of "small states" have appeared and evolved in international relations theory over the decades. While these definitions vary on clear demarcation for membership in the small state or microstate category, most conclude that size and influence are not always correl