Wedge strategy (diplomacy)

Not to be confused with Wedge strategy.

Wedge strategies in diplomacy are used to prevent, divide, and weaken an adversary coalition. ^{[1] [2]} Wedge strategies can take the shape of reward-based or coercive-based. ^[3] Alignment abnormalities can arise because of wedge strategies. ^[4]

Wedge strategies may be a subset or similar to Divide and rule strategies, however, there may be a slight optical difference. With the divide and rule strategy, there is a clear winner, whereas with the wedge strategy, attention is not focused on the winner but instead against the discredited coalition.

US examples

• 1948: George Kennan argued that the United States should "wean a Chinese coalition government from the Soviets" ^[5]
• 1952 CIA's national covert strategy objective "should be to drive a wedge between the Communist government of China and the Communist government of the USSR to the point where hostilities actually break out or are on the constant verge of breaking out...so that they are no longer a menace to the West and to their Asiatic neighbors." ^[6]

Great Britain examples

• 1930s: Great Britain's defensive attempts to accommodate Italy ^[7]
• 1940–1941: Great Britain used a wedge strategy to keep Spain from entering World War II on the side of the Axis ^[4]

Soviet examples

• 1950: Moscow inciting Mao to actions guaranteed to sustain Sino-American friction ^[8]

Russian examples

• 2016: Interference by Russia in the UK Brexit referendum, ^[9] driving wedges between the EU member states ^[10]

Contemporary Chinese examples

• Against the Australia-US alliance ^[11]
• Against the EU ^{[12] [13]}
  • Against the EU-US alliance ^[14]
• Against the Japan-US alliance ^{[15] [16]}
• Against the Pakistan-US alliance ^[16]
• Against the Philippines-US alliance ^[17]
• Against the ROK-US alliance ^[18]
  • Against the ROK-Japan-US security trilateral ^[19]
• Against the Taiwan-US alliance ^[16]
• Against the Vietnam-US partnership ^[20]

References

1. Crawford, Timothy W. (2021). The Power to Divide: Wedge Strategies in Great Power Competition. Cornell University Press. ISBN   978-1-5017-5471-5. JSTOR   10.7591/j.ctv12sdwfh.
2. Crawford, Timothy W.; Vu, Khang X. (2021-10-25). "Arms Control as Wedge Strategy: How Arms Limitation Deals Divide Alliances" . International Security. 46 (2): 91–129. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00420. ISSN   0162-2889. S2CID   239770379.
3. Izumikawa, Yasuhiro (2013). "To Coerce or Reward? Theorizing Wedge Strategies in Alliance Politics". Security Studies. 22 (3): 498–531. doi:10.1080/09636412.2013.816121. S2CID   145511562.
4. Crawford, Timothy (2008). "Wedge Strategy, Balancing, and the Deviant Case of Spain, 1940–41". Security Studies. 17 (1): 1–38. doi:10.1080/09636410801894126. S2CID   145192143.
5. Selverstone, Marc J. (2009). Constructing the Monolith: The United States, Great Britain and International Communism, 1945-1950. Harvard University Press. pp. 116–144. ISBN   9780674031791.
6. "National Covert Strategy" (PDF). CIA. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017.
7. Crawford, Timothy (Spring 2011). "Preventing Enemy Coalitions: How Wedge Strategies Shape Power Politics". International Security. 35 (4): 155–189. doi:10.1162/ISEC_a_00036. JSTOR   41289683. S2CID   57559849.
8. Beisner, Robert L. (March 6, 2009). Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War. Oxford University Press. p. 274. ISBN   9780199754892.
9. McGaughey, Ewan (2018-09-02). "Could Brexit be Void?" . King's Law Journal. 29 (3): 331–343. doi:10.1080/09615768.2018.1555881. ISSN   0961-5768.
10. European Parliament. Directorate General for External Policies of the Union. (2021). Best practices in the whole-of-society approach in countering hybrid threats. LU: Publications Office. p. 15. doi:10.2861/379. ISBN   978-92-846-7991-1.
11. Sheng Hao Chai, Tommy (2020). "How China attempts to drive a wedge in the U.S.-Australia alliance". Australian Journal of International Affairs. 74 (5): 511–531. doi:10.1080/10357718.2020.1721432.
12. Meijer, Hugo (2022). Awakening to China's Rise. Oxford. pp. 179–180, 236–237.
13. Fallon, Theresa (13 October 2016). "The EU, the South China Sea and China's successful wedge strategy". Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. CSIS.
14. Lind, Jennifer (July 2019). "The Rise of China and the Future of the Transatlantic Relationship" (PDF). Chatham House.
15. Joo Yoo, Hyon (January–March 2015). "China's Friendly Offensive Toward Japan in the 1950s: The Theory of Wedge Strategies and International Relations". Asian Perspective. 39 (1): 1–26. doi:10.1353/apr.2015.0007.
16. Huang, Yuxing (Summer 2020). "An Interdependence Theory of Wedge Strategies". The Chinese Journal of International Politics. 13 (2): 253–286. doi:10.1093/cjip/poaa004.
17. Thompson, Mark R.; Batalla, Eric Vincent C., eds. (2018). Routledge Handbook of the Contemporary Philippines. Routledge. p. 176. ISBN   9780367580827.
18. Lim, Sojin; Alsford, Niki J.P., eds. (2018). Routledge Handbook of Contemporary South Korea. Routledge. pp. 312–325. ISBN   9781032052175.
19. Chun, Jayhun; Ku, Yangmo (Summer 2020). "Clashing Geostrategic Choices in East Asia, 2009-2015: Re-balancing, Wedge Strategy, and Hedging". The Korean Journal of International Studies. 18 (1): 253–286. doi:10.1093/cjip/poaa004.
20. Vu, Khang (2023). "External Coercion, Internal Accommodation: China's Wedge Strategies Towards the Vietnam-United States Partnership, 2013–2022". Journal of Contemporary China. 33 (149): 850–870. doi:10.1080/10670564.2023.2228718.