Gunboat diplomacy: How classic naval coercion has evolved into hybrid warfare on the water

Over the summer, the United States deployed warships to the Caribbean — ostensibly to menace drug traffickers but also as a none-too-subtle warning to Venezuela.

- ANDREW LATHAM

Earlier in the year, a US Navy destroyer bobbed along waters close to Iran for similar reasons. And in the Taiwan Straits and Pacific, China and the US frequently show off their respective maritime military might.

Close to 200 years after first being used to assert geopolitical dominance, gunboat diplomacy is very much alive and well.

In fact, the tactics employed by the US, China, and others today fit naval strategist James Cable’s classic formulation for gunboat diplomacy as “the use or threat of limited naval force, otherwise than as an act of war, in order to secure advantage or avert loss.”

The ships, boats, and objectives have shifted since Cable first penned his now-classic definition in 1971, to be sure. But the core logic is the same: Conducted in tandem with political diplomacy, deploying state-of-the-art military vessels off or near a rival’s coast makes one hell of a statement.

GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY SETS SAIL

Gunboat diplomacy originally took shape in the mid-19th century during an era of industrial navies, imperial rivalry, and weak international law.

Steam power and heavy guns delivered mobility and shock, while diplomacy often happened via a few warships off a harbor, a short blockade or a punitive raid. These were highly visible acts, clearly attributable, and designed to stop just short of war.