A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics

Abstract

Small states are crucial actors in world politics. They attract outsized attention from great powers, populate international organizations, and shape international norms. Despite that, they have been relegated to a second tier of International Relations scholarship. Many explanations of international politics are largely silent on small states. When mentioned, small states often are treated as victims of great-power aggression or free riders on great powers’ good will. Some small states fit that picture of impotence. But many others are strikingly successful—wealthy, cosmopolitan, and even influential. This book asks, when and how can small states achieve their goals in international relations? It puts small states’ relationships at the center of the answer. Small states are defined by their position as the weaker actor vis-á-vis large states. Small states themselves, as well as their opportunities and constraints, are shaped by these power asymmetries. How might they “overcome” that asymmetry in pursuit of their goals? This book offers a contextualized explanation of how small states can assess the conditions of their asymmetrical relationships, identify opportunities, and shape effective strategies. The book offers tools for scholars and policymakers. It proposes an analytical approach and develops a typological theory of when and how small states might achieve greater influence. The book then deploys that theory in some twenty cases studies drawn from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, covering issues of security, international political economy, and international institutions, norms, and laws.

Small States in World Politics: Norwegian Interests and Foreign Policy Challenges in the Arctic

“…The ambition is to identify what can be learned about small-state behavior in the international arena, given the tools available for such actors when facing asymmetrically larger and more powerful states. 103 The Norwegian government has ambitions for the High North to become one of Norway's most sustainable and innovative regions, and the Arctic is also Norway's most important foreign policy interest area. 104 Norway's Arctic strategy is therefore an expression of the interplay between foreign and domestic policy, and the conduct of Norway's foreign and Arctic policy is aptly explained through Putnam's two-level game.…”

Dark money, US security guarantees and the twisting of allied arms

“…Weak but strategically valuable allies, according to Blankenship (2021), may hold greater bargaining leverage as they are less prone to fear US abandonment. By studying multiple Latin American countries, Long (2015Long ( , 2022 has further persuasively demonstrated that in some instances nations are able to overcome considerable power asymmetries and shape the US policy-making process. This suggests that we should not expect uniform behaviours from all asymmetric relationships, even when a state as powerful as the USA is involved (Long 2022).…”

“…By studying multiple Latin American countries, Long (2015Long ( , 2022 has further persuasively demonstrated that in some instances nations are able to overcome considerable power asymmetries and shape the US policy-making process. This suggests that we should not expect uniform behaviours from all asymmetric relationships, even when a state as powerful as the USA is involved (Long 2022). On the balance, however, it must be noted that small-state actors are generally seen to have a narrower room of manoeuvre in their geopolitical outlook (Jervis 1978, 172-173).…”

Análisis de política exterior en un contexto cambiante: Una aproximación

“…Las GP constituyen referentes claves en el sistema internacional; sobre todo cuando se trata de definir la PE de EP (Long, 2022). Por ende, todos aquellos que tienen proyectos hegemónicos determinan, en gran medida, el escenario internacional y los espacios de maniobra del resto de actores estatales.…”