Comparing foreign policy and development in Malta and Singapore after 1964 : between surviving, thriving and taking risks

Abstract

Malta and Singapore attained full independence nearly a year apart: 21 September 1964 and 9 August 1965 respectively. Yet today, despite being self-classified as small states, Singapore has been treated as a developed economy by the OECD and is widely acknowledged to be a ‘behind the scenes’ helmsman of the regional security architecture in the Asia-Pacific. Malta, in contrast, appears to be a relative diplomatic bystander enunciating its own principles

of sovereign difference, calling for EU and Mediterranean regional forums to address non- traditional security issues, and focussing heavily on growing a service economy in finance,

tourism, electronics and freight transhipment. Singapore’s growth trajectory takes on these areas as well, but also experiments with designs to establish itself as a transportation and communications hub for Asia. This preliminary comparison of Malta and Singapore as small states will proceed through three categories of examination: stabilising the geopolitical environment for growth; experiments in integration into a global economy; and the idea of a globally branded small state.