Malta: a paradigm of small power international negotiation strategy

Abstract

This thesis examines the recent foreign policy of Malta within the analytical framework of international negotiation theory. The island may be seen as a paradigmatic test-case of small-power international negotiation strategy in that Prime Minister Nintoff seems so far to have been unable to repeat his 1971 success in negotiating. The Zartman Structural Paradox that prevailed in 1971 has yielded to a more typical small-power situation as circumstances have changed. Malta's current status of unarmed neutrality is unlikely to persist. Maltese decision-making and negotiations are examined as resulting from several determinants, including: (1) Malta's historical pattern of international relations; (2) the island's economic history and prospects; (3) nationalism; (4) the personal characteristics of the Prime Minister; and (5) the external influences exerted by other states involved in Mediterranean affairs. Nintoff's Malta will probably pursue a foreign policy on nonalignment with economic and military guarantees provided by Italy, and perhaps other West European states.