Small States in the International System

At Peace and at War

By (author) Neal G. Jesse, John R. Dreyer

Publication date:

16 June 2016

Length of book:

214 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498509695

Small States in the International System addresses the little understood foreign policy choices of small states. It outlines a theoretical perspective of small states that starts from the assumption that small states are not just large states writ small. In essence, small states behave differently from larger and more powerful states. As such, this book compares three theories of foreign policy choice: realism (and its emphasis on structural factors), domestic factors, and social constructivism (emphasizing norms and identity) across seven focused case studies from around the world in the 20^th Century. Through an examination of the foreign policy choices of Switzerland, Ireland, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ethiopia, Somalia, Vietnam, Bolivia and Paraguay, this book concludes that realist theories built on great power politics cannot adequately explain small state behavior in most instances. When small states are threatened by larger, belligerent states, the small state behaves along the predictions of social constructivist theory; when small states threaten each other, they behave along realist predictions.

Chapter One: Small States as Distinct Units of Analysis and as Different than Large and Middle Powers
Chapter Two: Realism and Small States in the International System
Chapter Three: Non-Structural Factors of Foreign Policy: Domestic Factors and Social Constructivism
Chapter Four: Switzerland, 1815-Present: Small State in the Middle of a Multipolar Regional Power Structure
Chapter Five: Ireland, 1920-present: A Singular Stance for Nearly a Century
Chapter Six: Small European Buffer States in Two World Wars
Chapter Seven: Finland, 1939-1945: A Small State Resists Aggression
Chapter Eight: The Third Indo-China War, 1979
Chapter Nine: The Ogaden War 1977-1978, Ethiopia vs. Somalia
Chapter Ten: The Chaco War, 1932-1935: Paraguay vs. Bolivia
Chapter Eleven: Generalizations about Small State Behavior

The most interesting part of the book is its discussion of the various cases.... The book...makes...useful contributions to the scholarship, highlighting flaws in many of the established theoretical claims in the field and offering insight on the multiple foreign policy strategies small states may have at hand.