Not stranger, but as strange as (science) fiction...

Asimov's Foundation series is rightly considered one of the greats of science fiction. I wonder why it is also not required reading for students of international relations or strategic studies. The first book is a handbook for small but advanced states amidst bigger and potentially hostile powers.

Consider Terminus (Foundation): a small, technologically advanced entity confronted by bigger barbarian powers. Out of necessity, its ethos is one of pragmatism and an acknowledgement that its fortunes are tied to openness, flows and interdependence. This philosophy manifests in a geopolitics of non-alignment and precarious balancing, of rendering technical cooperation to whoever requests it, and a respect for rules and norms of good behaviour. Most importantly, it is a policy that has won it respect, even if begrudgingly given.

Sound familiar? What then are the limits of such a strategy, in the face of increasingly hubristic powers? What wild card events - the "Mule", as it were - popped up to scuttle it?