Smart Power in Small States' Foreign Policy: A Case Study of UAE's Smart Power

Document Type : Original Article

Author

International Relations, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Giza

Abstract

         The study seeks to analyze the importance of smart power in small states' foreign policy by applying the smart power strategy followed by UAE after 2011. Small states, including the UAE, have always followed a strategy based largely on soft power to protect their survival in the first place. However, soft power does not provide sufficient protection or guarantee for the survival of small states from the threats of stronger states. Moreover, the variables of the international system after the Cold War imposed several new challenges on small states, such as international terrorism, which has become an existential threat to small states, and it is not feasible to confront them by relying only on soft power. Therefore, small states need to follow a smart power strategy that provides them with more guarantees of survival and protection. After the Arab Spring, the UAE faced dangerous and unprecedented security challenges, the most dangerous of which was the rise of political Islam represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, and the growing Iranian threat. As a result, the UAE has adopted a strategy based on smart power to confront these challenges. The study confirms that the UAE, as a small state, has greatly succeeded through smart power in mitigating the Iranian threat and undermining the influence of political Islam to a very large extent. Hence, the UAE represents one of the most prominent cases that demonstrate the importance of the smart power of small states in providing the greatest guarantees to protect their survival and enhance their interests and influence.

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