Abstract
Chapter 2 places small states within the broadest international context and considers the treatment of small states by major International Relations theories. The systemic level of analysis, particularly as linked to structural realism, has tended to emphasize great powers and obscure the role of small states. Many studies of small states, especially those concerned with their survival, have adopted this perspective too, leading to pessimistic views of small states’ prospects. This chapter challenges this approach and instead explains world politics as a composite of myriad relationships. For any given small state, a handful of those relationships will be especially salient; usually, the most salient relationships also will be asymmetrical. Great power politics, institutionalization, economic governance, and the normative environment shape the international background in which small states’ salient relationships develop. Today, these factors create an international environment that is relatively permissive, allowing variation in outcomes for small states.
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