SWRD to AKD: From mastery to marginality in foreign policy

"My country is a small one, a weak one, a poor one..." - SWRD Bandaranaike, UNGA speech, November 1956

- By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

It is a contest between a conservative or reactionary project (however ideologically liberal many Western players may be) of the maintenance of the current extent of Western dominance or a rollback to post-Cold War unipolarity, and the revisionist/reformist project (however ideologically conservative the Eurasian players) of a multipolar and therefore more balanced, pluralist, democratic, world order.

Sri Lanka's stance

Sri Lanka must have a clear sense of where its most fundamental interests lie, and base its way of being in the (dynamically evolving) world accordingly. While rooting ourselves firmly, we must also have our 'heads on a swivel', aware of everything that's happening, spotting possible dangers, advantages and opportunities. Sri Lanka must have a firm 'Grand strategic' stance, while having flexible tactics.

What must that firm 'Grand strategic' stance be and derive from? It must be rooted in reality; the geopolitical and existential reality of who, what, where we are (as Mervyn de Silva insisted).

Sri Lanka is located in -belongs in -the Global South and therefore belongs to the Global South. Some of our politicians may have delusions to the contrary, but this is the ineluctable reality. Therefore, one of the axioms of our foreign policy must be to identify ourselves with the Global South and leverage the benefits of belonging to it.

Sri Lanka is located in Asia. Therefore, it must identify itself with Asia in particular and Eurasia in general.

A small island state, Sri Lanka should associate itself with the Global South and Eurasia, which contain the overwhelming majority of humanity as well as of the member states of the United Nations.

Covid-19 and Trump tariffs have shown us that supply chains can be blocked, external markets are elastic and therefore cannot determine our foreign policy.