ABSTRACT
The opening chapter of this book provides a rationale for its main arguments. A focus on power would affirm small states as small, pawns and policy-takers in a harsh international system where all states may be equal, but some are clearly more equal than others. However, a focus on influence can reveal various episodes of small states (and territories) acting as states, advancing their interests, at times to preserve their very survival or to reinforce their recognition as states but also beyond that limited agenda, while contributing to the legitimacy and efficacy of those very international organisations that serve as vehicles for such machinations. We are not referring to strategies of resistance here but strategies of success. Evidence will be drawn from multiple cases from across the globe, spread over three centuries, whereby small states are not simply plentiful but also proactive, exercising agency in various circumstances and securing results – perhaps not as rare and occasional as one might think – that work in their overall favour. One should no longer be surprised by such behaviour, and the realist and neorealist global theory of international relations needs to be seriously revisited.
