This book examines how middle powers navigate great power rivalry through defence diplomacy and the institutional conditions that sustain such efforts. Grounded in Indonesia’s 2023 chairmanship of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting and ADMM-Plus, it draws on close observation and thirty-eight anonymised interviews with senior practitioners conducted under Chatham House Rules.
The analysis integrates Regional Security Complex Theory, Neoclassical Realism, and policy implementation theory to explain how systemic pressures translate into institutional practice. It introduces new analytical tools, including the Bridge State concept, Selective Connectivity, Empowered Neutrality, and an Integrated Defence Diplomacy Model for middle-power states.
By combining empirical depth with theoretical innovation, the book offers insight into how non-aligned states can maintain multilateral defence cooperation amid intensifying strategic competition, with relevance extending beyond any single national context.
