NEW GLOBAL ORDER

Why small, open economies must rethink ‘strategic incompleteness’

When law is selectively enforced in the global arena, small states need a new playbook to maintain openness

    • Merchant states such as Singapore are adapting to fragmentation by offering businesses greater connectivity, predictability and optionality.
    • Merchant states such as Singapore are adapting to fragmentation by offering businesses greater connectivity, predictability and optionality. PHOTO: YEN MENG JIIN, BT
    Published Tue, Jul 21, 2026 · 07:00 AM

    FOR two generations, smallness looked less like a liability than an economic strategy.

    Luxembourg and Ireland built financial centres of global reach. Singapore coordinated commerce and capital across a region many times its size.

    Meanwhile, Gulf monarchies converted concentrated resources and small populations into commercial and diplomatic influence.