Small States And The Challenge Of Sovereignty

Comprehensive and timely, this Handbook identifies the key characteristics, challenges and opportunities involved in the politics of small states across the globe today. Acknowledging the historical legacies behind these states, the chapters unpack the costs and benefits of different political models for small states.

This book raises the question of the long-term security of the small state. It asks specifically how that quandary manifests itself in Europe after 1989. The overall argument is that small states are becoming increasingly prominent - to some extent also problematic - actors in post-Cold War Europe politics. This is partly a consequence of the diminished ambition, even bordering on reluctance, of great powers to assert their will. Partly it is the consequence of a confluence of other factors: there used to be a loose, tacit consensus on the respective roles of great powers and smaller states. That is no longer so. The transition from an actively supervised bipolar system to a nearly non-polar international system has been a slippery slope. It is as yet far from clear what the final outcome will be. The collapse of Yugoslavia and of the Soviet Union demonstrate the intractability of issues involving small states, in particular as those issues concern secession, independence and physical survival. The experience of the states liberated by the dissolution of communist power in Eastern Europe also demonstrates the hard lessons of survivability in economic terms. Indeed, the irony is that the answer to both the security problem and the economic dependence of small states is now widely perceived in these states themselves as being dependent on their participation in integration and at least the partial relinquishing of sovereignty.

Comprehensive and timely, this Handbook identifies the key characteristics, challenges and opportunities involved in the politics of small states across the globe today. Acknowledging the historical legacies behind these states, the chapters unpack the costs and benefits of different political models for small states. Contributions from key scholars challenge the idealization of the small state, disputing views that these states are inconsequential at best and a nuisance to world politics at worst. Offering evidence-based discussions on their importance to the global political order, the Handbook explores how small states 'do' politics, the major opportunities and challenges of policy-making and implementation, and how they can respond intelligently to these opportunities. Critical contemporary dilemmas are analysed, with a particular focus on the rise of nationalism, the collapse of empires, and the importance of this in relation to small state politics. Political science, diplomacy and international relations scholars, particularly those looking at small states, will find this a rich reference work. Case studies from all major world regions used in this Handbook will also make it a beneficial read for practitioners and policy-makers of small states.

Underpinned by the work of major thinkers such as Marx, Locke, Weber, Hobbes and Foucault, the first half of the book looks at political concepts including: the state and sovereignty; the nation; democracy; representation and legitimacy; freedom; equiality and rights; obligation; and citizenship. There is also a specific chapter which addresses the role of ideology in the shaping of politics and society. The second half of the book addresses traditional theoretical subjects such as socialism, Marxism and nationalism, before moving on to more contemporary movements such as environmentalism, ecologism and feminism.

The effects of recent institutional change within the European Union on small states have often been overlooked. This book offers an accessible, coherent and informative analysis of contemporary and future foreign policy challenges facing small states in Europe. Leading experts analyze the experiences of a number of small states including the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Iceland, Austria and Switzerland. Each account, written to a common template, explores the challenges and opportunities faced by each state as a consequence of EU integration, and how their behaviour regarding EU integration has been characterized. In particular, the contributors emphasize the importance of power politics, institutional dynamics and lessons of the past. Innovative and sophisticated, the study draws on the relational understanding of small states to emphasize the implications of institutional change at the European level for the smaller states and to explain how the foreign and European policies of small states in the region are affected by the European Union.

This book provides an insight into commercial relations between large economies and Small States, the benefits of regional integration, the role of Small States as financial centres as well as B2B and State to State dispute resolution involving Small States. Several contributions allow the reader to familiarise themselves with the general subject matter; others scrutinise the particular issues Small States face when confronted with an international dispute and discuss new and innovative solutions. These solutions range from inventive ideas to help economic growth to appropriate mechanisms of dispute resolution including inter-State dispute resolution and specific areas of arbitration such as tax arbitration. Researchers, policy advisors and practitioners will find a wealth of insights, information and practical ideas in this book.

The drug trade. Crime. Terrorism. Cyber threats. In the Caribbean, these cross-border Problems Without Passports (PWPs) have shaken the very foundation of nation states. Blending case studies with regional analysis, Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith examines the regionwide impact of PWPs and the complex security and sovereignty issues in play. The interaction of local and global forces within PWPs undermines the governments’ basic goal of protecting their people against military threats, subversion, and the erosion of political, economic, and social values. Seeking solutions to these multidimensional threats requires addressing both traditional and non-traditional security and sovereignty issues. Griffith focuses on clashes between PWPs and the state from warring drug gangs in Jamaica, to Trinidad and Tobago’s one-time status as a center for terrorism-related activities, to the political resurgence of drug trafficker Desi Bouterse in Suriname, and the growing cyber threats across the region. Informed and up to date, Challenged Sovereignty explains the effects of today’s globalized problems on the contemporary Caribbean.

Unrecognized states are places that do not exist in international politics; they are state-like entities that have achieved de facto independence, but have failed to gain widespread international recognition. Since the Cold-War, unrecognized states have been involved in conflicts over sovereign statehood in the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, South Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the South Pacific; some of which elicited major international crises and intervention, including the use of armed force. Yet they remain subject to many myths and simplifications. Drawing on a number of contemporary and historical cases, from Nagorno Karabakh and Somaliland to Taiwan, this timely new book provides a comprehensive analysis of unrecognized states. It examines their origins, the factors that enable them to survive and explores their likely future trajectories. But it is not just a book about unrecognized states; it is a book about sovereignty and statehood; one which does not shy way from addressing crucial issues such as how these anomalies survive in a system of sovereign states and how the context of non-recognition affects their attempts to build effective state-like entities. Ideal for students and scholars of global politics, peace and conflict studies, Unrecognized States offers a much needed and engaging account of the development of unrecognized states in the modern international system.