ABSTRACT
This chapter gives an overview of the main literature used to form the theoretical background of this book. Being a small state, Lithuania is guided by a foreign policy that is characteristic to this category of states. The typical security and foreign policy strategies of small states discussed in this chapter will later serve to analyse the extent to which Lithuania’s foreign policy has conformed to the typical role of small states in international politics. Also discussed are the classic and modern dilemmas of structure and agent in international politics. These concepts help us to understand the role of the agent (President Grybauskaitė) and the opportunities to operate in the international system. Finally, this chapter examines the importance of leaders in international politics. The psychological factors and the behaviour of political leaders are embedded in foreign policy analysis, as it can assist in clarifying why certain agents make particular decisions, and how that may change a state’s foreign policy course and even international structures.
