Copyright Matthias Maass 2017
The right of Matthias Maass to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN 978 0 7190 8273 3 hardback
First published 2017
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In memoriam Bolo
This book has been in the making for far too long, but I hope that the time the project was marinating has paid off and made it palatable. At the very least, it has allowed me to gather advice, hear critique, and receive encouragement from a number of good colleagues and dear friends. Their input was crucial and I am grateful to all of them. I do not want to mention them in any order suggestive of importance. Instead, I present them in the chronological order of their involvement.
This book has roots that reach far back to my time as a PhD student. Alan K. Henrikson, Andrew C. Hess (both at The Fletcher School, Tufts University), and Robert H. Jackson at Boston University were critical in focusing my early ideas, pointing me in the right direction, and guiding my work towards a passable dissertation. The public expression of my gratitude is long overdue.
Properly thanking Charles D. Kupfer at Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg is a losing proposition. I cannot do it justice. To say that his advice and encouragement, and his friendship together with his familys hospitality are truly appreciated is an understatement, and I trust he knows it.
While still at Monash University, Peter Lawler stirred my interest in the theory of International Relations although I fear the adoption of Realist theory to frame this books argument came as a disappointment to him. Be that as it may, his teaching in Melbourne provided its intellectual basis, and his mentoring after his move to The University of Manchester proved essential for getting this project off the ground.
At the National University of Singapore, Bilveer Singh and Alan Chong (now at Nanyang Technical Universitys Rajaratnam School of International Studies) quickly became friends rather than colleagues. Our lunch breaks across the border in Malaysia are legend. Alan Chong became a comrade in arms in the study of the small state. The completion of this book is due in no small part to his unwavering professional support and interest in the project.
Burkhard Schrage (now at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Vietnam) gave indispensable support in ensuring the accuracy of the statistical analysis. Since our shared time as doctoral thesis-writing students, our professional paths have crossed, diverged, converged, and run parallel. But his friendship and his familys hospitality have remained a constant, and I am the richer person for it.
Here at Yonsei University in Seoul, Chung Min Lee succeeded in combining the role of a demanding Dean with that of a true mentor and good friend. In both roles, he excelled and helped create a fruitful intellectual environment at Yonseis Graduate School of International Studies.
Equally important were the outstanding students I had the pleasure to teach in the seminars on small states. Their insights and in particular their persistence in challenging my work helped me to develop my arguments and claims much more rigorously. In addition, I had the distinct pleasure to rely on the help of a number of outstanding student assistants: Dongyoon Chung, Mimi Ahn, Se Rin Chung, Heeja Kim, Hyung Jeon So, Young Zu Wee, Min-Seo Kang, Wonjung Yu, Surra Lee, Jinny Moon, and Cesare Scartozzi. All of them were involved in the project at various stages and I thank them for their work and the comments and insights they shared.
A major shout-out goes to the librarians at Tufts University, Harvard University, National University of Singapore, Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Free University Berlin, Humboldt University, and the State Library Berlin. Only chronologically last is Frank Smith, who put his journalistic skills to work. He helped with polishing the manuscript and looking at a late draft with fresh eyes. His electronic comments in the margins were politely phrased but spot on.
I am grateful for the reviewers extensive and insightful comments. They were instrumental in turning a draft into a proper book manuscript. I am equally grateful to Manchester University Presss team of Jennifer Howard, Tony Mason, Alun Richards, Robert Byron, David Appleyard, and Diane Wardle. Without their expertise and commitment, the project would not have come together.
Portions of Affairs for their kind permission to re-use some of the material here. The Elusive Definition of the Small State. International Politics 46, no. 1 (2009): 6583; Small States: Survival and Proliferation. International Politics 51 (2014): 70928; The International States System since 1648 and Small States Systemic Resilience. Asian International Studies Review 10, no. 2, December (2009): 3152; Small Enough to Fail: The Structural Irrelevance of the Small State as Cause of its Elimination and Proliferation Since Westphalia. Cambridge Review of International Affairs 29, no. 3 (2017).
There can be no doubt that despite all the advice and constructive critique I received, all the encouragement, help, and support, the final text has weaknesses. Needless to say, these are my responsibility alone.
Seoul, summer 2016
Small states are survival artists. In a states system shaped by power politics and dominated by great powers, the survival and especially the proliferation of small states is a remarkable phenomenon. But what is the actual magnitude of this phenomenon and how can it be explained? In short, what is the big story behind small state survival?
Understanding the survival of small states as one consistent historical phenomenon stretching over the past three-and-a-half centuries, the answers developed here are: 1) The overall picture of small state survival is uneven, with periods of general stability interrupted by major fluctuations in overall numbers. 2) Small states survival depends first and foremost on the key features of the states system. Larger changes in the number of small states are the result of broader changes in the states system. 3) The story of small state survival is shaped by their dependency on the states system for their security.
Understanding the story of small state survival requires a clear focus on the international states system. This study finds that different variations of the Westphalian states system had very different effects on small state survival. The most hostile environment for the small state was the late nineteenth-century concert system; the most supportive was the bipolar world of the later twentieth century. Surprisingly, the crude balance-of-power system of the eighteenth century proved fairly accommodating of small state survival. Looking to the future, a modest rise in the number of small states can be predicted.
