Diplomacy: Small States' Instrument For Justice

Nepal’s participation in each of the international regimes—the UN, non-alignment, WTO etc. is based on a demand for justice, a mechanism  of finding fair share of global public goods through revisionist policy against great powers dominating the international system and seeking to keep the status quo.  The frame of justice enables both big and small states to learn to live together in the same system as responsible members, the former do not breed coercive impulses that trouble the latter having less power, will and leverage to curb their appetite for disproportional power. International regimes are not just sounding board to air small states’ concerns, claims and grievance articulation but also solve their domestic problems of underdevelopment. 

Justice reflects the conscience of great powers and international regimes to alleviate the plight of the weak and small states and recognise the sovereign equality of nations - big and small whose population shares the same humanity, though their nationalities, rationalities and imperatives markedly differ.  Competitive nature of multi-polar world order provides small states some options: to choose sides, stay neutral, keep non-aligned; interact with all poles on the basis of their national interests and develop strategic autonomy based on equi-proximity in defining their social, economic and political policies in the neighborhood and multilateralism in global politics. In a great power competition, no single power can decisively influence small states’ external self-determination. But without the setup of internal justice, robust political cohesion, economic base and diplomatic dexterity, survival of the nation remains precarious. 

Universal ideals

Those unable to manage their policies become trivial while others fall victim to resource curse, fail to bargain, face subjugation if located in the security range of big powers. Nepal, conscious of its civilization, approximates many universal ideals for freedom and abhors violence and war. The return of geopolitics has increased the scramble of great powers for space, sea lanes, control of oil and rare earth minerals, competition for cutting-edge technologies, communication and AI and network of international transactions thus undermining the flow of supply chains. Struggle to create alternative monetary, banking and development infrastructures are luring small states to adjust to a new reality, diversify their market and diplomacy through national self-determination and defy the penetration of external powers through the internal proxies. 

But when great powers like the US, China, Russia, India, Japan, Europe, Australia, and the Gulf region are unable to manage détente, the UN is weakened, rival regimes indulge in geopolitical contests, they lure small states on their sides to beef up their diplomatic profile. There are many adaptive strategies of diplomacy where a quest for justice can empower Nepal and exonerate foreign policy from buffer, regime trap or instrumental calculus:

Common aspirations: Owing to the universality of human nature, people of small states have the same hopes and aspirations of natural rights of survival, freedom and justice and constitutional and human rights like big powers. Nepali constitution has upheld Nepalis' will to live with sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and dignity as non-negotiable rights.  An instinct of survival is an art of self-defense. A life of optimal security can ensure Nepali leaders to pursue other values: freedom, progress, peace and struggle for justice. They as peoples’ representatives have every rationale to expect from the global system to realise people’s rights to justice beyond realpolitik. To create a just order, big powers are morally obliged to help Nepal by trade concession, debt relief, foreign aid, investment, tourism, technology transfer, protection of labour rights, manage natural disasters and boost living standards. It helps Nepal graduate to developing nations.