Description
Abstract:
South Asia's geopolitical and geoeconomic significance have attracted far more attention from the US and China than before, turning the region into one of the theatres of the most dynamic power shifts in the 21st century. This paper analyses the sources of Bangladesh's foreign policy in the era of great power competition among the strategic triangle of the US-China-India. Bangladesh's remarkable economic growth in the twenty-first century, along with its important geostrategic location with its access to the Bay of Bengal and the question over democratic deficit, finds itself at the centre of great and regional power rivalry. This paper engages with the three main school of thoughts of International Relations (Realism, Liberalism & Constructivism) and their competing claims about small states' foreign policy behaviour and examines them in the context of Bangladesh. This paper departs from the traditional alignment and non-alignment (Balancing, Bandwagoning and Hedging) debate/framework which is common in small and middle power studies and adopts four levels of analysis (systemic/international level, regional level, domestic/unit level and individual/ idiosyncratic) in decoding Dhaka's geopolitical realities and foreign policy navigation. This paper provides an alternative means of understanding the geopolitics of small states by bridging International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis. This qualitative study uses a multipronged data collection strategy: semi-structured (elite & expert) interviews, documents and secondary sources. This case study argues that domestic determinants and the perspective of political leaders/elites are important components besides structural factors for small states' foreign policy in the era of US-China competition.
Keywords: Small States, Geopolitics, Foreign Policy. US-China Rivalry, Bangladesh
