Gunboat Diplomacy: How Classic Naval Coercion has Evolved Into Hybrid Warfare on the Water |
Photograph Source: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Brian Morales – Public Domain
Over the summer, the United States deployed warships to the Caribbean – ostensibly to menace drug traffickers but also as a none-too-subtle warning to Venezuela. Earlier in the year, a U.S. Navy destroyer bobbed along waters close to Iran for similar reasons. And in the Taiwan Straits and Pacific, China and the U.S. frequently show off their respective maritime military might.
Close to 200 years after first being used to assert geopolitical dominance, gunboat diplomacy is very much alive and well.
In fact, the tactics employed by the U.S., China and others today fit naval strategist James Cable’s classic formulation for gunboat diplomacy as “the use or threat of limited naval force, otherwise than as an act of war, in order to secure advantage or avert loss.”
The ships, boats and objectives have shifted since Cable first penned his now-classic definition in 1971, to be sure. But the core logic is the same: Conducted in tandem with political diplomacy, deploying state-of-the-art military vessels off or near a rival’s coast makes one hell of a statement.
Gunboat diplomacy sets sail
Gunboat diplomacy originally took shape in the mid-19th century during an era of industrial navies, imperial rivalry and weak international law.
Steam power and heavy guns delivered mobility and shock, while diplomacy often happened via a few warships off a harbor, a short........