The ‘Blue Pacific’ strategic narrative: rhetorical action, acceptance, entrapment, and appropriation?

Abstract

The developing literature on strategic narratives has analysed their attempted use by great powers, particularly China, to influence less materially powerful states. While there has been some consideration of how less materially powerful states can exercise their agency to, in response, construct narratives about their relationship to Chinese power, there has been far less analysis of less materially powerful states that have created and deployed their own strategic narratives. In this article we analyse the Blue Pacific narrative adopted and deployed, via rhetorical action, by Pacific Island countries to seek to influence their more materially powerful partners. We analyse the discourse and policies of partner states and argue that they have accepted, and at times, been entrapped, by that rhetorical action. However, we also find that partner states have appropriated the Blue Pacific narrative in their own attempts to influence Pacific Island countries. Nevertheless, we conclude by arguing that the Blue Pacific narrative demonstrates how less materially powerful states can leverage geopolitical competition and use rhetorical action so that their strategic narratives can influence more materially powerful partners to advance their interests and priorities.

Keywords:

• Influence
• Pacific Islands
• rhetorical action
• strategic narrative

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP200101994. We also acknowledge the support of the University of Adelaide Summer Research Scholarship, which funded Corey’s participation in the research, and the research assistance of Lucy Klein. We thank the reviewers for their very helpful suggestions and Alister Miskimmon for his advice as we developed this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP200101994