ABSTRACT
The Nordic countries and the Baltic States are all considered to be small states in the European small-states academic literature. Small states can be large in certain activities. For example, the Scandinavian countries—Denmark, Norway and Sweden—are all considered small in the European small-states literature. A final issue to mention is that small states can be more influential if they successfully co-operate in groups with other like-minded countries. From a theoretical perspective, multilateralism can be viewed as the international governance of the many. It can open up the possibility for small states, along with larger, more powerful states, to participate in international decision-making. Princeton professor Robert Owen Keohane differentiated between four systemic roles that modern states may be considered by their leaders to play, in terms of their impact on the international community. These are as follows: System-determining, System-influencing, System-affecting and System-ineffectual.
