How do junior allies seek to leverage US foreign policy to their advantage? In ‘The Big Influence of Small Allies’, Robert Keohane delineated the tactics that these states employ. Fifty years on, this paper updates and modifies Keohane’s influential article. It offers a framework for analysing the different influencing tactics: (1) bargaining; (2) direct, indirect and diaspora lobbying; and (3) political and institutional bonding. Unlike Keohane’s article, which examined influence from an American perspective, this paper explores the concept from the vantage point of junior allies. It concludes by considering avenues for future research. The paper not only contributes to the academic literature on US alliances and the concept of influence, but the findings are also pertinent to policymakers. The article demonstrates the potential benefits and drawbacks of different influencing tactics so that junior allies are clear-eyed about the promise and the pitfalls of influencing US foreign policy.

初级盟友如何寻求利用美国外交政策为自己谋利？在“小盟国的大影响”中，罗伯特·基欧汉描述了这些国家所采用的策略。五十年后，这篇论文更新和修改了 Keohane 有影响的文章。它提供了一个分析不同影响策略的框架：（1）讨价还价；(2) 直接、间接和侨民游说；(3) 政治和制度结合. 与 Keohane 的文章从美国的角度考察影响力不同，本文从初级盟友的角度探讨了这一概念。最后考虑了未来研究的途径。这篇论文不仅对有关美国联盟和影响力概念的学术文献做出了贡献，而且研究结果也与政策制定者相关。这篇文章展示了不同影响策略的潜在好处和缺点，以便初级盟友清楚地了解影响美国外交政策的前景和陷阱。