Small States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yee-Kuang Heng
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
International System ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Small States ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Small State ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Strategic Competition ◽  
Endogenous Variables

Scholarship in international studies has usually tended to focus on the great powers. Yet, studying small state behavior can in fact reveal deep-seated structural changes in the international system and provide significant insights into the management of power asymmetries. Overcoming the methodological limitations of gigantism in scholarship and case study selection is another epistemological benefit. Rather than conventional assumptions of weaknesses and vulnerabilities, research on small states has moved in fascinating directions toward exploring the various strategies and power capabilities that small states must use to manage their relationships with great powers. This means, even in some cases, attempts to forcibly shape their external environments through military instruments not usually associated with the category of small states. Clearly, small states are not necessarily hapless or passive. Even in terms of power capabilities that often define their weaknesses, some small states have in fact adroitly deployed niche hard power military capabilities and soft power assets as part of their playbook. These small states have projected influence in ways that belie their size constraints. Shared philosophies and mutual learning processes tend to underpin small state strategies seeking to maximize whatever influence and power they have. These include forming coalitions, principled support for international institutions, and harnessing globalization to promote their development and security interests. As globalization has supercharged the rapid economic development of some small states, the vicissitudes that come with interdependence have also injected a new understanding of vulnerability beyond that of simply military conflict. To further complicate the security environment, strategic competition between the major powers inevitably impacts on small states. How small states boost their “relevance” vis-à-vis the great powers has broader implications for questions that have animated the academy, such as power transitions and the Thucydides Trap in the international system. While exogenous systemic variables no doubt remain the focus of analysis, emerging research shows how endogenous variables such as elite perceptions, geostrategic locations and availability of military and economic resources can play a key role determining the choices small states make.

scholarly journals Michel Girard

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (04) ◽  
pp. 787-788
Author(s):  
Charles Doran
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
North American ◽  
International System ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Untimely Death ◽  
Johns Hopkins School ◽  
Science Association

Michel Girard, professor of political science, Sorbonne, Paris, passed away suddenly on January 27, 2009, after a lengthy battle with cancer. To the end, Professor Girard was an unsurpassed scholar and professional. Ten days before his untimely death, he delivered a superb lecture at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., on the rise of the new great powers and their integration into the global international system. He had also organized a panel for the International Political Science Association meetings in Santiago, Chile, on which he included two North American scholars.

scholarly journals From the ‘Small but Smart State’ to the ‘Small and Entrepreneurial State’: Introducing a Framework for Effective Small State Strategies within the EU and Beyond

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Revecca Pedi ◽  
Katerina Sarri
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International System ◽  
Small States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Small State ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
State Strategy ◽  
Entrepreneurial Action ◽  
Comprehensive Framework

AbstractAs the current international system is leaning towards multipolarity, small states face the danger of their influence being diminished and their interests being ignored. Small states in Europe and within the European Union might find themselves in such a predicament. In order to overcome it, they are in need of effective strategies. Literature on the international relations of small states suggests that, despite their limitations, small states are able to pursue their goals and succeed in the international system. Small state studies employ the ‘small but smart state’ concept for a small state that can maximize its influence. Despite being widely used, the latter lacks analytical value and remains a cliché. The objective of this article is to pin down the ‘small but smart’ state strategy and based on that to provide a comprehensive framework for the analysis and the design of effective small state strategies. We suggest that the ‘small but smart’ state strategy shares many elements with the entrepreneurial action, as the latter is extended from its business origins to include a specific strategy. We draw on the field of entrepreneurship to explore the ways it can enhance our understanding of the international relations of small states and we introduce a framework for the ‘small and entrepreneurial state’ strategy. The notion of the ‘small and entrepreneurial state’ adds more depth and rigor into our small state analyses as well as reinvigorates a fragmented and repetitive literature. Last but not least, our ‘small and entrepreneurial state’ approach can be of use for both small state scholars and policy makers.

scholarly journals ‘Writing’ small states: contextualizing the construct in the Arab Gulf

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larbi Sadiki ◽  
Layla Saleh
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State ◽  
Cautionary Note ◽  
International Visibility ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Arab Gulf

AbstractHow do IR scholars ‘write’ the Arab Gulf? In attempting to address this question, the focus is twofold: first, the ‘small state’ as a construct and second, its application to the study of Gulf small states. The article tries to grapple with issues inherent in such an enterprise by providing a critical assessment of recent scholarship on the topic, with special reference to Qatar and the UAE. The problematic comes to the fore in a context of these two countries’ increasing regional and international visibility, as well as what seems to be renewed scholarly interest in small states, more generally. Specifically, this analysis primarily seeks to relativize the small state within the Arab Gulf sub-region, drawing attention to ontological and epistemological issues. In so doing, the article offers some heuristics for the writing of small states in the Arab Gulf. One suggestion put forward in the article is more scrutiny of the regional context; what is called here the ‘hydrocarbon semi-periphery’; and misgivings (conceptual and empirical) concerning, respectively, the treatment of ‘soft power,’ mediation, and intervention. One parting idea to derive from this line of inquiry is its cautionary note against inflating the utility or the explanatory power of a catch-all ‘small state’ construct when it comes to non-Western settings.

The Grand Strategies of Small States

2021 ◽  
pp. 489-505
Author(s):  
Anders Wivel
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
National Security ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State ◽  
Security Environment ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Grand Strategies

This article discusses the nature, opportunities and limitations of small state grand strategy. It identifies the similarities and differences between the grand strategies of small states and great powers and unpacks the nature of traditional defensive small state grand strategies hiding and shelter-seeking as well as more recent offensive, influence-seeking small state grand strategies under the heading of smart state strategy. The article argues that while small state grand strategy remains tied to national security and is formulated in the shadow of great power interests, a changing security environment creates both the need and opportunity for small states to use their weakness instrumentally for maximizing interests. The likelihood of success depends on a pragmatic political culture and the willingness and ability to prioritize goals and means to utilize their nonthreatening small state status in “smart” or “entrepreneurial” policies.

Small state survival in a system of collective hegemony: the concert system, 1815–1918

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Maass
Keyword(s):  
International Politics ◽  
First World War ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Small States ◽  
World War ◽  
Small State ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World ◽  
State Survival

The 4th chapter starts with the Congress of Vienna 1814/15 and moves the discussion to the eve of the First World War. At Vienna, the so-called concert system was introduced, and it structured most of 19th century international politics. But how did the small state fare in the 19th century system? During the first half of the century, small state numbers continued to erode before the all but collapsed in the later decades of the century. These historic losses of small states, it is argued, stem largely from the particular ‘oligopolistic’ features of the concert system and its key modifiers. Small state survivability decreased as great powers formed a cartel and later split into two hostile camps.

Small States in World Politics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Maass
Keyword(s):  
Causal Link ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
System Level ◽  
Small States ◽  
Weak States ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Small State ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Over Time

What is the story behind the paradoxical survival of small and weak states in a world of great powers and crude power politics? The answer lies at the system-level: Small states survival is shaped by the international states system. Resting on three main pillars – theory, history, and quantitative analysis – the study’s key findings draw a picture of the small state as highly dependent on the states system in its efforts to survive. The investigation is focused on the causal link between small state survival, abolishment, or proliferation and the states system in its various historical incarnations. This provides the basis for the main argument: Variations in the states system’s main characteristics create noticeable changes in the system’s hospitality toward the small state and thus impact heavily on small state survivability. These dynamics lead to small state creation and termination, which is reflected in and thus explains the large up- or downward changes in the number of small states over time.

Wartime Economies, 1939–1945

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Land ◽  
Jari Eloranta
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Small States ◽  
World War ◽  
Small State ◽  
Total War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
European Economies ◽  
Second World

This chapter provides an overview of European economies during the Second World War, showing that total war affected all economies, yet in different ways. Mobilization presented massive challenges, and often led to labour shortages in other sectors. Resources proved to be a decisive factor in determining the outcome of the war, since richer nations were able to get more out of their economies and populations for the war effort. This chapter first considers Great Britain and Germany as comparable great powers dealing with the exigencies of total war, and then puts the spotlight on Switzerland, as a case study of a neutral nation during wartime, and Finland, a small state that was forced into the war. The comparison of different states during this conflict highlights the connections between large and small states, a perspective that has not been emphasized in earlier literature.

Pakistan and Singapore as Small Powers

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 187-204
Author(s):  
Farhan Hanif Siddiqi
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Present Article ◽  
International System ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Small States ◽  
Theoretical Construct ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Small Powers

Abstract The subject of international relations and its theories are based primarily on what the great powers do. Major ir theories including realism and neorealism have put small states and powers at the very margins of their respective theories arguing that since they do not display any form of power at the national and systemic levels they could as easily be discarded from theoretical and empirical debate and analysis. The present article challenges this theoretical construct and seeks to investigate whether the small powers are innate non-players in the international system and hence ‘vulnerable’ entities or display forms of power vis-à-vis the great powers in which their ‘maneuverability’, influence and independence may be manifest. This is attempted with respect to a comparative analysis of Pakistan and Singapore in which both an endogenously driven explanation taking into account both states’ domestic constitutive features are brought into focus alongside a behaviorally-oriented exogenous explanation bordering on power and security.

Lilliput under Threat: The Security Problems of Small Island and Enclave Developing States

1993 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sutton ◽  
Anthony Payne
Keyword(s):  
Third World ◽  
Developing World ◽  
International System ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Small States ◽  
Small State ◽  
Regional Context ◽  
Definition Of

There are 45 states with a population of around one million or less, 36 of which are in the developing world. They are often overlooked and very little has been written about their security. After reviewing the debate on the definition of a small state, five distinctive characteristics most small Third World states hold in common are identified: openness, islandness or enclaveness, resilience, weakness and dependence. Each of these characteristics is examined and their specific security implications discussed. Finally, the vulnerability of small states in the current international system is considered. While small Third World states have much in common their strategies for survival will be different and depend above all on the regional context.

scholarly journals The concept of «soft power» in the context of Ukrainian strategy of foreign policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 131-136
Author(s):  
D. S. Korotkov
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
International System ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Hard Power ◽  
The Crimea ◽  
Second Tier ◽  
Power Concept

This article explores the basic principles and conceptual approaches to the concept of «power». Modern globalizational processes in the world (political, economic) influence the emergence of new concepts of power. The basic theoretical concepts of international relations - «hard power» and «soft power» and the possibility of using them in Ukrainian foreign policy are under consideration. The causes of emergence of the «soft power» concept is studied in the article. Among the mentioned causes we examine the end of «Cold War» and formation of multipolar international system. It brings us to the changes of the nature of the power itself and makes the strategy of «soft power» more potential. The attention is drawn to the relevance of the essence of the «soft power» concept and possibility of its usage in Ukrainian foreign policy, in its political scientific discussions. The annexation of the Crimea in 2014 and the military conflict with Russia influenced the future implementation of this concept. The potential of the «soft power» concept in Ukraine is already exhausted. The «Orange Revolution» in 2004 and «Revolution of Dignity» in 2014 are the symbolic events of modern Ukraine and the main tools of the «soft power». These events formed a positive image of Ukraine in Europe. It is necessary to restrict (financially and informationally) the usage of this concept and give priority to the «hard power». Concept of «soft power» is only effective in the countries with significant military and economic potential. With regard to Ukraine, the tools of the attractiveness of the economic model of development are not effective and are still unpredictable. The secondary effects of internal political and economic upheavals, the annexation of the Crimea and hostilities in the Donbas spread to most sectors of the national economy. It is noted that in the context of cultural and value attraction in order to use the whole image potential of our state, we need a well-thought out state information policy and a clearly planned branding campaign, which takes time and considerable financial expenses. Ukraine show that in order to ensure its national security for the ‘second-tier’ states the development of its own military force should be on a priority basis.

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