The Role of Small States in the European Union

Europeanisation should meet international constructivism: the Nordic Plus group and the internalisation of political conditionality by France and the United Kingdom

“…The attempts of Nordic countries to persuade the UK to adopt joint sanctions make perfect sense from the perspective of small states (Thorhallsson 2000;Egeland 1984). Small states do not possess numerous sources of influence over large organisations like the EU.…”

Coalition Within a Coalition: The Baltics in the European Union

“…The increasing academic interest in small states as a special research object can be explained by large-scale political process -the decolonisation of the 1970s, the disintegration of the 'Socialist camp' in the 1990s, and the EU enlargement to the small states of Central and Eastern Europe [1][2][3][4]. Iver B. Neumann and Sieglinde Gstöhl argue that, in the context of international relations, small state studies can contribute to research on the nature of such states' capabilities, institutions, and relations [5].…”

It’s not the size, it’s the relationship: from ‘small states’ to asymmetry

“…If they are to apply to other 'small states,' we must be able to identify which states those are. For this reason, perhaps, there has been a richer conversation when the small states involved are limited to those in Europe (Thorhallsson and Wivel, 2006;Wivel, 2005;Steinmetz and Wivel, 2010;Björkdahl, 2008;Goetschel, 1998;Nasra, 2011;Rickli, 2008;Thorhallsson, 2010;Hey, 2003b;Ingebritsen, 2006;Panke, 2011;Panke, 2010). There, the subfield seems to have progressed, while cumulation and comparison regarding the rest of the world's 'small states' has been less notable.…”

“…We may advance different hypotheses about relations of military asymmetry than those of asymmetrical interdependence. This has often occurred implicitly within the robust subfield on small states in Europe, where numerous authors have argued that the absence of existential or territorial threats allows qualitatively different foreign policies and levels of influence (Grøn and Wivel, 2011;Thorhallsson, 2010). The European Union is treated as a case apart, emphasizing 'the main opportunities offered by the European integration process' (Steinmetz and Wivel, 2010: 218).…”

“…'Small states' have played significant roles through joining international organizations (Goetschel, 1998;Thorhallsson, 2010;Panke, 2011), propagating norms (Ingebritsen, 2002;He, 2016), shaping global climate negotiations (Jaschik, 2014;Deitelhoff and Wallbott, 2012;Benwell, 2011), executing creative diplomacy (Cooper and Shaw, 2009), and influencing alliances (Desch, 1993;Rothstein, 1968;Risse-Kappen, 1995;Morrow, 1991;Keohane, 1971;Shin et al, 2016).…”