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Small States and the Turning Point in Global Politics

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Small States and the New Security Environment

Part of the book series: The World of Small States ((WSS,volume 7))

Abstract

This book uses the theory of shelter to examine how some representative small states in NATO, MENA, and Oceania are responding to the new geopolitical, geo-economic security environment. One third of the membership of NATO are small states, and most of NATO’s partners are small states too. All the major NATO powers have strategic interests in the regions of their partner states—so any security challenges or new developments there are of direct interest to NATO priorities. The global great powers of China, Russia, and the USA are once again jostling for dominance. Each small state has finite resources to protect itself, so each must find their own way to manage relations between the dominant powers while protecting their national interests. Do small states need political, economic and societal shelter provided by larger states and international organizations? This book extends theoretical debates on the role of small states in the changing international system, as well as on the issue of how states manage their relations between the major powers in the new security environment. The SSANSE project contributes new thinking on how small states can respond to the “new normal” in international security.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Chris Seed, Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand, “Opening Remarks to Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee,” New Zealand Parliament, December 12, 2020, https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/52SCFD_EVI_92819_FD3013/51eea4ab1967c2ba7bdddb9d7d6824f0f8ba2e6e.

  2. 2.

    See Chaban et al. (2019).

  3. 3.

    Henderson (1991).

  4. 4.

    Brady (2019).

  5. 5.

    SSANSE Pop Up think tank at University of Canterbury: https://canterbury.ac.nz/arts/research/ssanse/pop-up-think-tank/.

  6. 6.

    Alcala and Ciccone (2004), pp. 613–646; Alesina and Spolaore (2003); Archer and Nugent (2002), pp. 1–10; Archer et al. (2014); Bailes et al. (2013); Bailes et al. (2006); Bailes et al. (2016), pp. 9–26; Baker (1959); Barston (1973); Brady (2019); Carvalho and Neumann (2015); Cooper and Shaw (2009); Corbett and Connell (2015), pp. 435–459; Deudney (2007); Easterly and Kraay (2000), pp. 2013–2027; Finnemore and Sikkink (2001), pp. 391–416; Frankel and Romer (1999), pp. 379–399; Henderson et al. (1980); Hey (2003); Ingebritsen et al. (2006); Karsh (2010); Kattel and Thorhallsson (2013); Katzenstein (1984); Katzenstein (1985); Mathisen (1971); Neumann and Sieglinde Gstöhl (2006); Olafsson (1998); Rokkann and Urwin (1983); Steinmetz and Wivel (2010); Thorhallsson (2012); Thorhallsson (2010); Thorhallsson (2011), pp. 324–336; Thorhallsson (2019); Thorhallsson and Steinsson (2017); Vital (1967); Wohlforth et al. (2017), pp. 526–546.

  7. 7.

    Archer et al. (2014), Bailes et al. (2013) and Bailes et al. (2006).

  8. 8.

    Karsh (2010).

  9. 9.

    Hey (2003).

  10. 10.

    Henderson et al. (1980) and Henderson and Kennaway (1991).

  11. 11.

    Jeffrey A. Larsen, “Time to Face Reality: Priorities for NATO’s 2016 Warsaw Summit,” Research Paper 126, NATO Defense College, 15 January 2016.

  12. 12.

    Thorhallsson (2010, 2011, 2019).

  13. 13.

    Thorhallsson (2019).

  14. 14.

    Thorhallsson (2019).

  15. 15.

    Thorhallsson (2010, 2011).

  16. 16.

    Thorhallsson (2019); Thorhallsson, “The Icelandic Collapse.” For a historical account on the importance of political, economic, and cultural features in centre-periphery relations see Rokkan and Unwin (1983).

  17. 17.

    Thorhallsson (2019).

  18. 18.

    Bailes and Thorhallsson (2013) and Katzenstein (1998).

  19. 19.

    Thorhallsson and Gunnarsson (2017).

  20. 20.

    Thorhallsson and Steinsson (2017).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Sciences and International Relations, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Anne-Marie Brady

  2. Faculty of Political Science and the Centre for Small State Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Baldur Thorhallsson

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  1. Anne-Marie Brady
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  2. Baldur Thorhallsson
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Correspondence to Baldur Thorhallsson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Sciences and International Relations, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Anne-Marie Brady

  2. Faculty of Political Science and the Centre for Small State Studies, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Baldur Thorhallsson

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Brady, AM., Thorhallsson, B. (2021). Small States and the Turning Point in Global Politics. In: Brady, AM., Thorhallsson, B. (eds) Small States and the New Security Environment. The World of Small States, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51529-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51529-4_1

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