Dr William James has published an article with International Politics
Influencing the United States: is the game worth the candle for junior allies?
Abstract: How do junior allies seek to leverage US foreign policy to their advantage? In ‘The Big Influence of Small Allies’, Robert Keohane delineated the tactics that these states employ. Fifty years on, this paper updates and modifies Keohane’s influential article. It offers a framework for analysing the different influencing tactics: (1) bargaining; (2) direct, indirect and diaspora lobbying; and (3) political and institutional bonding. Unlike Keohane’s article, which examined influence from an American perspective, this paper explores the concept from the vantage point of junior allies. It concludes by considering avenues for future research. The paper not only contributes to the academic literature on US alliances and the concept of influence, but the findings are also pertinent to policymakers. The article demonstrates the potential benefits and drawbacks of different influencing tactics so that junior allies are clear-eyed about the promise and the pitfalls of influencing US foreign policy.
