Weapons Brushed By the Enemy: The Bounded Autonomy of Taiwan’s Middle Power Foreign Policy

Abstract

This study investigates the bounded autonomy of middle power diplomacy by analyzing the continuity and changes in Taiwan’s foreign policies. The case of Taiwan, which has emerged as a middle power through democratization and economic development, illustrates how the internal state of politics and the economy and the external state of security threats simultaneously constrain the foreign policies of middle power states. Democratization and economic development function not only as constraints on the foreign policy makers who deal with external security threats but also as a means to advance foreign policy in international politics. Establishing diplomatic ties with other countries and becoming a member of international organizations show how a country’s foreign policy makers use material and normative policy tools to pursue their aims in international politics and how the interaction between internal and external conditions constrains the autonomy of foreign policy. The bounded autonomy of middle power states in dealing with great powers and security threats is primarily caused by the dual effects of democratization and economic development on the selection and use of foreign policy tools.