This book examines the security, defence and foreign policy choices and challenges of small states in NATO and its small partner states in the new security environment. The main aim of the book is to analyse how these states are dealing with current and emerging security challenges and how they might better prepare for these challenges. A special focus is on ‘new’ security threats and solutions, such as drones and hybrid warfare. Simultaneously, the book focusses on how small states are responding to emerging ‘old threats’, such as Russian aggression in its neighbouring states and increased activity in the North Atlantic. The book makes an attempt to answer questions like: How are the small states of NATO and its small partner states adjusting to the new geo-political and geo-economic environment? Do small states in NATO manage the tension between alliance commitments differently from small states that are not members of NATO? What are the core strategic interests of the NATO and non-NATO partner small states? The book is about the external dimension of inherent size-related difficulties in states and how small states compensate for their inbuilt structural weaknesses compared with their larger neighbouring states. One third of the member states of NATO are small and most NATO partner states are small states too. Small states frequently have a disproportionate effect on global politics and they are more often affected by global shifts of power, yet they have less resources available to address security challenges. The aim of the book is to enhance the understanding of the role of small states in the changing global international security environment. The book presents the theory of shelter (which is derived from the diverse and extensive literature on small states) and uses it to examine how small states respond to new and old security threats. Shelter theory addresses three interrelated issues of common concerns to small states: the reduction of risk before a possible crisis event, assistance in absorbing shocks in times of crises, and help in recovering after such an event. In short, shelter theory claims that small states need external shelter in order to survive and prosper. They are dependent on the economic, political, and societal shelter provided by larger states, as well as regional and international organizations.

The first part of this book is primarily devoted to analysing the impact of the system of international relations on the fortunes of small states. The second part discusses the question 'what changes in the national strategy of small states are necessary in view of the new international system?' The authors of this volume come from various parts of the world and espouse differing outlooks. Nevertheless, they were able to coalesce around a similar theme in an effort to contribute to the international understanding of the special challenges that confront the world's small states.

This book provides a critical examination of the foreign policy choices of one typical small state, New Zealand, as it faces the changing global balance of power. New Zealand’s foreign policy challenges are similar with those faced by many other small states in the world today and are ideally suited to help inform theoretical debates on the role of small states in the changing international system. The book analyses how a small state such as New Zealand is adjusting to the changing geopolitical, geo-economic, environment. The book includes perspectives from some of New Zealand's leading as well as emerging commentators on New Zealand foreign policy.

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.

“Over the past dozen years special operations forces (SOF) have been one of the few areas of growth and expansion in a number of militaries. This growth and expansion, however, has not been mirrored by a comparable one in academic inquiries into the subject. Special Operations from a Small State Perspective - Future Security Challenges, which contains a wide range of perspectives from both practitioners and academics, makes a unique contribution to the literature and offers fascinating insights into the opportunities provided by and challenges confronting small states such as Swedenin their evolutionary development and use of SOF.” Dr James Kiras, Associate Professor, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, The Air University, Alabama, USA.

Smaller nations have a special place in the international system, with a striking capacity to defy the expectations of most observers and many prominent theories of international relations. This volume of classic essays highlights the ability of small states to counter power with superior commitment, to rely on tightly knit domestic institutions with a shared "ideology of social partnership," and to set agendas as "norm entrepreneurs." The volume is organized around themes such as how and why small states defy expectations of realist approaches to the study of power; the agenda-setting capacity of smaller powers in international society and in regional governance structures such as the European Union; and how small states and representatives from these societies play the role of norm entrepreneurs in world politics -- from the promotion of sustainable solutions to innovative humanitarian programs and policies..

Theoretically innovative and empirically expansive, A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics sets out to become the new authority for the study of small states in International Relations (IR). The book's explanatory approach allows for a comparison of small states' situations and relationships across a global selection of some twenty cases in issues of international security, economy, and institutions. In doing so, it shows how IR's longstandingneglect of small states is a missed opportunity--not just for understanding small states but for developing better theories of IR.