Sri Lanka navigating major power rivalry : how domestic drivers collide with the international system

Abstract

In an era of major-power competition, the alliance politics of small states are attracting more attention. This article examines the case of Sri Lanka, a small South Asian state seen as balancing against India’s interests or bandwagoning with China. Through the evaluation of international relations theories and use of data sources from Sri Lanka, this article argues that the country was not balancing against India, bandwagoning with China, or even hedging. Instead, the article will engage with new scholarship on small-state alliance strategies and suggest that the episode was driven primarily by domestic-level factors. When a smaller state faces pressure at the system level, the choices it makes are not necessarily between bandwagoning, balancing or hedging, but between the pursuit of domestic-level interests and preferences; and “bandwagoning as a last resort.”