The alignment of small states: Singapore and Vietnam
Download
Author
Mills, Roman C.
Date
2011-12Advisor
Twomey, Christopher P.
Second Reader
Glosny, Michael
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
China's economic growth and military modernization over the past decade presents a foreign policy challenge to Southeast Asia. The balance of power in Asia, so long dominated by the U.S., is beginning a shift toward China. At the same time, China is growing more assertive toward its neighbors. This thesis seeks to explain how Singapore and Vietnam are reacting to this change. Using the existing literature and the historic example of Finland's policies in the last century, it presents alignment behavior as a negotiating process between states. These negotiations are both constrained and driven by realist concerns, existing institutions and domestic politics, which affect the speed and the form that changing relationships and alignments take. Presented in this manner, this theory offers two distinct explanations for the policies of Vietnam and Singapore. In Vietnam, the concern over the threat of China, coupled with a lingering mistrust of the United States, has led to a distributed balancing approach that spreads Vietnam's security reliance among a number of regional powers. In Singapore, the limited threat China presents and the resolution of other regional threats relaxes the need to balance and enables Singapore to view the rise of China as an opportunity.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Comparing diverse Southeast Asian reactions to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Ong, Mei Ping Michelle (Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2017-09);This thesis attempts to explain why some Southeast Asian countries, namely Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia, joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), while others such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, did not. ... -
Southeast Asia’s relations with Taiwan, 2000-2016: an assessment of Vietnam and Singapore
Yang, Tingting (Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School, 2017-09);In Southeast Asia, a unique situation has existed for decades where political, economic, military and cultural relations flourish between Southeast Asian countries and Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic relations. ... -
OPTIMIZING AMMUNITION MANAGEMENT IN SINGAPORE
Chea, Wei Tien (Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-09);Ammunition is crucial to Singapore’s defense readiness and national security, especially considering global events like the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Challenges faced by Singapore include low peacetime usage, restricted ...