Description
The paper discerns the factors that explain Ecuador's decision to settle its maritime disputes with China outside the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. Data was collected through documentary analysis and structured interviews and analysed using the case study. The research is in foreign policy analysis, the small states approach and neo-institutionalism. The paper argues that three factors explain Ecuador's decision to settle its maritime disputes outside the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: 1. a high degree of divergence between its objectives and those of China, 2. a low salience for China to change the status quo, and 3. a high internal cohesion of China's preferences. The findings call into question the neo-institutionalist approach that small states enter international organisations to organise themselves, gain relative power and put their issues on the agenda. The research suggests that using a typology of small-state action in asymmetric relations is necessary to understand the factors that shape foreign policy.
