Resilience versus vulnerability: Turkey’s small power diplomacy in the 1930s

Research on small powers has composed a slim section of International Relations literature. More focus has been given on super, great, and middle powers since their interactions have more influence. Differentiating small from middle powers is also problematic, unlike distinguishing great powers from these two. The difficulty of choosing the “right” quantitative and/or qualitative criteria for defining state power is one major reason for this. Therefore, this study, rather than developing a quantitative/qualitative contents list for outlining small powers, aims to utilize a so far not-well-tried approach of testing their diplomatic success. For this, it uses small powers’ resilience—vulnerability nexus to examine Turkish politico-economic diplomacy in the 1930s. Quantitatively and qualitatively, the 1930s Turkey was an acceptable example of a small power. The study aims to prove that Turkey furthered its national interests by overshadowing its vulnerabilities with a resilient small power diplomacy.