engleski

Revisiting the Definition of small State through the Use of Relational and Quantitative Criteria

Small states make up the vast majority of the international system. However, their absolute power and relative “weight” in that same international system are reversely proportional to their number. A sheer number of small states therefore tells us little about their specific characteristics and the means to pursue their own survival and progress. Nevertheless, the scientists have for decades not been able to agree on the number of small states in the world, so most of them have simply decided to omit this problem from their research, focusing mainly on strategies and specificities of small states, that either derive from their smallness or not. Most classifications usually agree that the number of small states in the world is between a half and two-thirds of all states. The purpose of this paper lies in an attempt to re- initiate a debate among the scholars in order to try to answer the “eternal” question of how many small states actually exist in the world, and what criteria should be primarily used to define i.e. classify them.

small states ; regional position ; classifications of small states ; quantitative, qualitative, and relational criteria ; small state definition

nije evidentirano