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A complete guide for how small states can be strikingly successful and influential--if they assess their situations and adapt their strategies.Small states are crucial actors in world politics. Yet, they have been relegated to a second tier of International Relations scholarship. In A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics, Tom Long shows how small states can identify opportunities and shape effective
strategies to achieve their foreign policy goals. To do so, Long puts small states' relationships at the center of his approach. Although small states are defined by their position as materially weaker actors vis-a-vis large states,
Long argues that this condition does not condemn them to impotence or irrelevance. Drawing on typological theory, Long builds an explanation of when and how small states might achieve their goals. The book assesses a global range of cases-both successes and failures-and offers a set of tools for scholars and policymakers to understand how varying international conditions shape small states' opportunities for influence.
A complete guide for how small states can be strikingly successful and influential--if they assess their situations and adapt their strategies.Small states are crucial actors in world politics. Yet, they have been relegated to a second tier of International Relations scholarship. In A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics, Tom Long shows how small states can identify opportunities and shape effective
strategies to achieve their foreign policy goals. To do so, Long puts small states' relationships at the center of his approach. Although small states are defined by their position as materially weaker actors vis-a-vis large states,
Long argues that this condition does not condemn them to impotence or irrelevance. Drawing on typological theory, Long builds an explanation of when and how small states might achieve their goals. The book assesses a global range of cases-both successes and failures-and offers a set of tools for scholars and policymakers to understand how varying international conditions shape small states' opportunities for influence.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Small States, Big World
Chapter 3: Opportunities and constraints: Conditions for
success
Chapter 4: Playing small ball: Strategies for success
Chapter 5: Security
Chapter 6: International Political Economy
Chapter 7: Institutions, law, and norms
Chapter 8: Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography
Tom Long is Associate Professor in the Department of Politics &
International Studies at the University of Warwick. Tom's research
focuses on the dynamics of asymmetry, small states, and the
international relations of the Americas. He is the author of Latin
America Confronts the United States: Asymmetry and Influence. His
work also appears in leading journals including International
Security, World Politics,
International Affairs, Perspectives on Politics, and International
Studies Review. Since completing his PhD at American University in
2013, Tom's research has been supported by about $400,000 of grants
and fellowships from bodies including the UK Arts and
Humanities Research Council, British Academy, and British Council.
He was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Pontificia Universidad
Católica in Chile. Before joining Warwick, Tom taught at the
University of Reading, American University, and the Centro de
Investigación y Docencia Económicas, where he remains an affiliated
professor in international studies.
Tom Long's A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics is
a trail-blazing effort to build new theory in the discipline of
small state studies -- as persuasive in its conceptual development
as it is dazzling in the genuine internationalism of its case
studies ... the rich theorisation in this book is a watershed
moment that has significantly advanced our theoretical study of the
strategies of small states.
*Hillary Briffa, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy*
Building on his seminal 2015 work, Latin America Confronts the
United States, Long persuasively presses his case that smaller
states, with creative leadership, can often successfully defend
their national interests in contests with bigger ones.
*Richard Feinberg, Foreign Affairs*
Long persuasively presses his case that smaller states, with
creative leadership, can often successfully defend their national
interests in contests with bigger ones. He urges his scholarly
colleagues to redefine international relations studies by
stretching beyond the interactions of great powers to focus on the
many smaller states that light up the geopolitical firmament.
*Richard Feinberg, Foreign Affairs*
[A]gainst the aims it sets for itself - to outline and demonstrate
the significance of a relational approach to the study of small
states that starts from the position of asymmetry and is global in
coverage - A Small State's Guide to Influence in World Politics
succeeds remarkably. It should be warmly received and become a
touchstone text for anybody interested in how the majority of the
world's states engage in international affairs.
*Prof. Jack Corbett, The Round Table*
Tom Long has written an invaluable primer for policy makers and
diplomats in small states and scholars of International Relations.
He offers a new methodological approach to navigating the
asymmetries of inter-state relations, based on exhaustive research,
a fairly comprehensive bibliography and a wide-ranging examination
of relevant case studies. From a Caribbean perspective, I would
have preferred that he had referenced the writings of Shridath
Ramphal and Ronald Sanders, but this should not detract from the
quality of his research, which is a major contribution to small
state diplomacy and IR theory.
*Riyad Insanally, Former Ambassador of Guyana to the USA and the
Organization of American States*
Written with clarity and rigour, this is a must-read book for
anyone who wants to understand how and why small states fail or
succeed in world politics.
*Anders Wivel, Professor of International Relations, Department of
Political Science, University of Copenhagen*
Based on IR theory and grounded in small states scholarship, this
book provides an innovative integrated account of small states
strategies to deal with constraints and opportunities they face in
world politics. The comprehensive theoretical argument is
illustrated by a series of compelling short case studies. This
timely book is a must-read for scholars and practitioners
alike.
*Diana Panke, Chair of Multi-level Governance, University of
Freiburg (Germany)*
Most books on small states tend to detail a particular issue or the
external behavior of states in one region. This book is a
remarkable attempt to go beyond this by analyzing the entire
spectrum of small states-European as well as in the developing
world. Long does this by formulating a detailed pre-theoretical
framework through which small state influence attempts can be
impartially assessed. The book is notable for both its attention to
careful theorizing, as well as the breadth of cases drawn on in
support of the author's thesis. Anyone interested in the security
and economic behavior of small states will find much to ponder
theoretically, and much to draw on descriptively. This book is an
important addition to the small-state literature and it deserves to
be widely read.
*Jacqueline-Braveboy-Wagner, City University of New York*
The book defines, theorizes and investigates small states in the
context of these unequal relationships, between a small state and a
great power...the book is essential reading for those interested in
small states and political power.
*Sarina Theys, International Affairs*
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