Abstract: This article proposes that a small state’s approach to total defence will be strong influenced by the nature of its strategic environment. It compares the defence approaches of Poland and New Zealand to identify whether the different contexts of their strategic environments necessitate divergent strategies for defending their state. The theory of population ecology of organisations will be used to frame the different options available to small states in their strategic environments and applied to the cases in order to explain their different approaches to total defence.
Key words: total defence, New Zealand Defence Assessment, defence policy
