Small states : concepts and theories

Abstract

Small states are now more visible and prominent than at any other point of world history (Hey, 2003, p. 1). The combined effect of the collapse of empires, the rise of nationalism and the strengthening of an institutional international architecture, including a widening of the respect and rule of law, since the end of the Second World War has served as a vehicle for the proliferation of small sovereign states. As noted by Neumann and Gstöhl (2006, p. 3), “small states are simply too numerous and – sometimes individually, but certainly collectively – too important to ignore”. This volume offers a timely, rich and systematic review of the politics of small states. The authors assess the opportunities as well as the challenges of small state politics and discuss problems of marginalization and the strategies that small states deploy in order to influence the fate of their own societies and that of regional and global affairs.