Despite increasing scholarly attention to small states, dominant approaches in International Relations continue to privilege large powers as the primary agents capable of shaping international outcomes. Traditional indicators of influence—military expenditure, economic size, demographic weight, and technological capacity—often obscure alternative forms of power exercised by smaller actors. This has contributed to the persistent marginalisation of non-Western small states within both theoretical debates and empirical analyses of global politics.
This panel seeks to address this limitation by examining the soft power strategies through which small states outside the Western world create influence. It asks:
How do non-Western small states generate and mobilise soft power?
Under what conditions can vulnerability become a source of diplomatic influence?
How do identity narratives shape international recognition and legitimacy?
How do small states challenge assumptions about hierarchy and power in global governance?
Can soft power provide a pathway for rethinking agency beyond material capabilities?
The panel builds on emerging scholarship that challenges Eurocentric understandings of power and explores how actors in the Global South contribute to shaping international norms, institutions, and practices. It argues that small states should not be understood merely as recipients of global power structures but as active participants in producing and transforming them.