ABSTRACT
Small states have been defined as 'the weaker actors in asymmetric power relationships' but such a definition may put too much emphasis on power and size and too little on the status of statehood. The setting is a function of the large number of small sovereign states that exist today - the UN-supported Forum of Small States has 105 states as members and of the expanding number and significance of both sub-national and supra-national entities. Bahrain is the site of a significant US Navy base, with some 6,000 personnel, offering port facilities to the US Fifth Fleet. Palan argues that such small states have gone so far as to prostitute their sovereign rights. International law, as enshrined in the 1933 Montevideo Convention and the various principles governing the workings of the United Nations, precludes interference by states in the internal workings of other sovereign states, irrespective of their size.
