The Foreign Service Journal, November 2006

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 39 he Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest geographical feature, covering approximately one- third of the Earth’s exterior. By its all-inclusive definition, the Pacific Basin accounts for approximately two-fifths of the world’s surface and nearly half of the world’s population. Not surprisingly, then, the nations that comprise the Pacific Rim are dissimilar in many fundamental respects — from culture to political systems to economic orders — and range from global powers like rich and stable Japan to microstates like bankrupt Nauru and volatile Fiji. F O C U S O N F R A G I L E S T A T E S T HE P ACIFIC M ICROSTATES AND U.S. S ECURITY T HOUGH FREQUENTLY OVERLOOKED , THE MANY S OUTH P ACIFIC ISLAND - STATES ARE UNIQUELY RELEVANT TO U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY . B Y K EVIN D. S TRINGER T Clemente Botelho