Despite the challenges facing small economies, leadership research has given scant attention to leaders’ behaviour in those countries during crises. Using seemingly paradoxical domains of paternalistic leadership theory: authoritarian, benevolent and moral leader behaviour, together with concepts like populism from the political science domain, we analyse how Sri Lanka’s ‘strongman’ President provided a façade of paternalistic leadership during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through analysis of written and verbal content (public speeches, independent reports and government media output), we show how the power exercised through authoritarian, as opposed to authoritative behaviour, together with espoused morality and benevolence, appears to have been effective in the short term in containing the pandemic. However, sustained success in dealing with the crisis is hampered by the contradictions between this paternalistic façade and the dark realities of authoritarian and populist leadership. Accordingly, we offer theoretical insights into how the darker elements of paternalistic leadership can be better understood and averted.

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The relationship between China and India is characterised by competition intertwined with issues over sovereignty, territorial integrity and prestige. Since the war in 1962, they have engaged in several small skirmishes. The increasing tension and frequency of clashes have led the smaller South Asian countries being caught in the middle. What impacts do the changing dynamics have on smaller South Asian countries? What options do these smaller countries have in navigating the relationship amid increasing border tensions? This article attempts to examine the aforementioned research questions.

The emerging geopolitical tension and the trade competition in the Indian Ocean urge Sri Lanka to plan its diplomatic ties prudently encouraging Sri Lankan decision-makers to envisage a new strategy for international diplomatic cooperation: minilateralism. This diplomatic engagement mode enables smaller states to cooperate with greater powers in small-scaled/sized cooperation patterns to increase their international opportunities. Since the Indian Ocean has become a hotspot of maritime trade competition and various geostrategic developments, Sri Lanka aspires to new venues for international cooperation. The ‘new Quad’ formed among the United States, India, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates can be a potentially lucrative partnership for a littoral state like Sri Lanka. Amid these developments, this paper seeks to fill a void by delving into the strategic reasons for Sri Lanka’s engagement with the Middle East via minilateralism. This paper investigates the newly strategising affairs of the ‘new Quad’ which two of their member states, Israel and UAE are from the Middle East, and views on how Sri Lanka can benefit in economic ties and crisis management realms to deal with energy and maritime trade issues.