ABSTRACT
This volume has shown that smaller powers’ position vis-à-vis the super powers often provided them with an opportunity rather than merely representing a constraint. It thus defies the Realist assumption that small states are not driven by a search for power and national interest but argues instead that smaller states successfully searched for ways to stretch their margins for manoeuvre in pursuit of their own interests. Examining the strategies of fourteen different European countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain, as well as neutrals, the volume has also provided a wealth of new empirical evidence to reinterpret the Cold War as well as an unusually wide spectrum of themes, ranging from energy politics to technology and the economy, which deserve further consideration in New Cold War History. In this conclusion we will therefore address not only how this contributes to the literature on smaller powers but also to what extent it sheds a new light on Cold War Europe, as well as setting the agenda for further research.
