More than minnows? Challenges and prospects for small navies

摘要

As the world's maritime and military planners know all too well, navies constantly have to respond to significant changes in their national and international context. This context provides their justification, their roles and functions, and the resources with which they are expected to deliver missions and tasks. How well they respond and their consequent levels of success depend on a host of structural factors. Some of these are particularly challenging for smaller navies. The major shifts in context affecting navies include a shift in the world's strategic architecture as the economic, political, and military significance of China and the whole of the Asia-Pacific region grows in comparison with the United States and Europe. Indeed, for the first time in several hundred years, naval spending in east Asia now outstrips naval spending in Europe.