"Small states can make a big difference for an entire region not only for their potential nuicence value, but also for their active contributions to uphold international order from a neutral or buffer-state position. This book is very valuable for its concrete discussions of exactly how this has played out, particularly in post-Cold War Europe." -Iver B. Neumann, Co-editor of Small State Status-Seeking "Arguably, most of the states of the world are neither great powers nor middle powers, rather small states. Most of these small states are not members of military alliances. In her book, Radoman, goes in-depth analysing this universal phenomenon, hence presenting new and most welcomed knowledge. She presents valuable insights in the fields of Foreign Policy Analysis as well as Strategic Studies." -Håkan Edström, Associate Professor in Political Science and Senior Lecturer in War Studies, Swedish National Defence University, Stockholm, Sweden "If you want to know why states still opt for military neutrality in the twenty-first century, this is a book for you! To explain how two very different states, Sweden and Serbia, adopted a similar policy, Radoman draws on an eclectic theoretical framework. The book will also be a real treat for anyone interested in small states and their defense policies and European security more generally." - Filip Ejdus, Associate Professor, Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Serbia This book explores the factors that account for military neutrality as a security strategy for small states. Through comparing the cases of Serbia and Sweden the book introduces a novel conceptual framework that is built against existing knowledge in the small states and military neutrality literature. Drawing on different theoretical frameworks, the model explains why certain small states choose to stay outside of military alliances in the twenty-first century. Jelena Radoman holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. Her work is related to security sector reform and security integrations. She currently works for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy in Belgrade.

This book explores the factors that account for military neutrality as a security strategy for small states. Through comparing the cases of Serbia and Sweden, who have both come to define their security policies in identicial terms of military neutrality/non-alignment, the book introduces a novel conceptual framework that is built against existing knowledge found in the small states and military neutrality literature. Drawing on different theoretical frameworks, the model explains why certain small states choose to stay outside of military alliances in the twenty-first century. The author then applies the new model to the two selected case studies.

Originally published in 1988, this book examines the experiences of neutral states in Europe during the Second World War and in the postwar peiod. It examines both the practical and the theoretical considerations and the interface between the two, and discusses the implications of the experience of these countries for small states generally

Agency, Security and Governance of Small States examines what seems to be a defining paradox of Small-State Studies: the simultaneous coexistence (and possible co-dependence) of vulnerability and opportunity related to small-state size. This book analyses small states within the framework of this apparent paradox. Traditionally, Small-State Studies has focused on three guiding questions: what constitutes a ‘small state’? What explains small-state influence in global affairs? Are small states truly vulnerable to security threats given the expansion of multilateralism and regionalism throughout the world? This book contends that new questions should be asked which recognise the important shifts in twenty-first century security paradigms, to better understand how some states deploy their smallness as a resource for agency in supranational contexts. By varying historical, geographical, security, and governance contexts, the book embraces a most-different-cases approach. The historical perspective is often neglected in Small-State Studies but contributes to understanding how small states have often, over time, transformed perceived insecurity into agency. By focusing on different world regions, the authors enable the comparative analysis of collective actions, and the creation and implementation of institutions for ‘common sense purposes’ within a geographical region. Of particular contemporary importance, the book includes contributions which contend with hard-security issues alongside other soft-security challenges. The comparison of case studies confirms that hard-security vulnerability and soft-security opportunities seem to be two sides of the same coin, which reinforces the book’s focus on small-state paradoxes, and raises the question of whether smallness can be considered the defining characteristic of governance in these countries. This book will have a broad appeal because of the different world regions it analyses. It will be of interest to postgraduate students, scholars, and researchers of international relations, security, sustainability, governance, development, and political economy, as well as Small-State Studies. The Chapters 4, 8 and 11 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. The publication of Chapter 4 as Open Access has been made possible by the Institute of History at the University of Luxembourg. The publication of Chapter 8 as Open Access has been made possible by Western Sydney University. The publication of Chapter 11 as Open Access has been made possible by the University of Hamburg.

This new work defines national security strategy, its objectives, the problems it confronts, and the influences that constrain and facilitate its development and implementation in a post-Cold War, post-9/11 environment. The authors note that making and implementing national strategy centers on risk management and present a model for assessing strategic risks and the process for allocating limited resources to reduce them. The major threats facing the United States now come from its unique status as "the sole remaining superpower" against which no nation-state or other entity can hope to compete through conventional means. The alternative is what is now called asymmetrical or fourth generation warfare. Drew and Snow discuss all these factors in detail and bring them together by examining the continuing problems of making strategy in a changed and changing world. Originally published in 2006.

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: International relations, grade: 1,0, University of Rostock, language: English, abstract: This work takes a look at how small states are characterized in the political science discipline of international relations, and what kinds of strategies they use to secure their interests in a globalized world. With the example of Ireland as a small and classically neutral state, the focus thereby lays on the foreign policy strategy of neutrality. Why do small European states adopt a neutral foreign policy and how does this strategy influence the development of the state? To understand the theoretical background of this theme and to get a clear understanding of the term, first the theoretical concept of small states in international relations needs to be explained in a small overview including various definitions and approaches regarding their foreign policy. Proceeding from a review of their different strategies, the specific neutral strategy gets examined depending the the early political-historical background, different kinds of neutrality and neutrality rights. This will then be applied to the specific Irish case. More in-depth focused here is the question: can the Irish foreign policy in the 21st century still be phrased as neutral and what consequences are entailed in the answer? To achieve this, there is the need for an analysis of the Irish neutrality concept and it's development. This will be done in the third part of this work by reviewing the political-historical background of the Irish derivation of the neutrality concept and later also taking into account the latest white paper regarding Ireland's foreign policy from 2015. Also a glance at the meso-level in form of the Irish participation in international organizations like the European Union will be helpful to evaluate Ireland's degree of neutrality. At the end, cases of neutrality conflicts are gonna be pointed out and discussed in regard to the research question.

This volume brings together a leading group of scholars to offer a new perspective on the history of conflicts and trade, focusing on the role of small and medium, or "weak", and often neutral states. Existing historiography has often downplayed the importance of such states in world trade, during armed conflicts, and as important agents in the expanding trade and global connections of the last 250 years. The country studies demonstrate that these states played a much bigger role in world and bilateral trade than has previously been assumed, and that this role was augmented by the emergence of truly global conflicts and total war. In addition to careful country or comparative studies, this book provides new data on trade and shipping during wars and examines the impact of this trade on the individual states’ economies. It spans the period from the late 18th century to the First and Second World Wars and the Cold War of the 20th century, a crucial period of change in the concept and practice of neutrality and trade, as well as periods of transition in the nature and technology of warfare. This book will be of great interest to scholars of economic history, comparative history, international relations, and political science.

This book explains what ‘small’ states are and explores their current security challenges, in general terms and through specific examples. It reflects the shift from traditional security definitions emphasizing defence and armaments, to new security concerns such as economic, societal and environmental security where institutional cooperation looms larger. These complex issues, linked with traditional power relations and new types of actors, need to be tackled with due regard to democracy and good governance. Key policy challenges for small states are examined and applied in the regional case studies. The book deals mainly with the current experience and recent past of such states but also offers insights for their future policies. Although many of the states covered are European, the study also includes African, Caribbean and Asian small states. Their particular interest and relevance is outlined, as is the connection between their security challenges and their smallness. Policy lessons for other states are then sought. The book is the first in-depth, multi-continent study of security as an aspect of small state governance today. It is novel in placing the security dilemmas of small states in the context of wider ideas on international and institutional change, and in dealing with non-European states and regions.

A thought provoking essay on the possible implications of irregular warfare in national military strategy.