Alternative Models for Middle Power Navies

Abstract

Formulating models for the middle power navies appears, at first and even second glance, to be an exercise in juggling apples and oranges. Middle power status is most often defined in the postwar world by what it is not; neither superpower nor developing state. At issue are states which have both interest and capability to vigorously advance or defend many, but not all, of their central national interests most of the time. Described in other terms, these are states who usually enjoy a favourable balance of influence to opportunity, of capability to vulnerability. The navies which these states maintain as instruments of national policy would seem as diverse as the strategic interests of these states, and the naval traditions they possess.