Small Power In International Politics

Improved Essays
In international politics, a country must meet a certain criteria in order to be viewed as a strong, important, and influential player. A nation’s economic power, military capacities, geographical size, and population are all factors that determine whether or not it will be viewed with strength or weakness. In the international arena, small nations are perceived as marginal players due to their inability to be influential and strong in multiple domains. Even though they are proven to be strong in one aspect they are not strong enough ‘players’ to be viewed as a superpower in international politics. Being a small size decreases the ability for a nation to be heard when standing next to a country that is a known superpower. This in turn causes …show more content…
The most obvious definition is by population, which Vellut breaks down into different classes; his overall view claims that a nation is considered small if their population is below ten million. Rothstein argues that a small power is a state that is able to recognize that they can not achieve the best means of security alone and need an alliance to gain that security. His point brings up one of the main concerns of a smaller nation, which is that being secure is more important rather than having power. Keohane brings forth another possible definition of a small state, claiming that a state is a small power when its leaders consider that it never will be able to make an impact in the international arena. As seen, there are multiple perceptions given when trying to determine what actually makes a nation a small power. Although a major problem faced by small states is their smaller population, multiple factors such as gross national product, military, and geographical size also aid in determining whether or not a state should be labeled small. However, having a smaller population directly affects some of the other factors, which is why population is such a determining factor of what makes a nation …show more content…
Luxembourg has the highest gross domestic product amongst all of the countries a part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. This small country has also shown the ability to set aside its own interests in the European Union for the interests most common amongst the group and to spend more than “0.7 GNI on development cooperation.” If size and power were strictly based off of these characteristics, Luxembourg, along with many other small nations who fall under these criteria, would not be viewed as small and marginalized. However, due to their inability to stand tall and to provide the security for their country alone, these nations are marginalized powers without having influence and strength above or at an equal level to those countries of larger

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    With smaller states, the idea of people governing themselves works. However, they wanted all the benefits of a larger government protection. As it stood before the Constitutional Convention, trade, money system, and property protection were not universally regulated and caused conflict for…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People's Liberation Army

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages

    On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the creation of the People’s Republic of China. China followed the Soviet model of government from 1949 to 1959, but the Soviet model relied heavily on a large industrial population. China did not have a large industrial population (Stanton 2016). Instead, Mao made the foundation of his revolution the peasants (Marlay and Neher 1999). Mao instigated a reworking of Chinese society during his rule, as Mao strictly believed that change must be the constant and that revolutions must be continuous (Marlay and Neher).…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    William Appleman Williams’ essay The Tragedy of American Diplomacy centers around America expansion, and the idealistic and economic motivators which inspired it. Williams frames his narrative with his critique of the idea that expansion was one of the main ways in which America could extend its virtues throughout the world, and create a new era of peace. He decides the true tragedy of American diplomacy is that actions undertaken in the name of humanitarianism, self determination, and peace actually work in opposition to those ideals and instead turn the United States into an oppressive force abroad. While the United States may have desired to help others, they believed the only way they could do so was if they maintained authority over the nations they helped. The reason this occurred, Williams argues, is because expansionism has a large role in American mythos but both policy makers and citizens refuse to reconcile expansion with the idea of becoming an empire.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Luxembourg is also an active member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The country spends less than one percent of its gross domestic product on defense and has a volunteer army of approximately eight hundred active duty…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A weak nation cannot, will not succeed and will attract unwanted attention from larger, more powerful nations who seek to exploit passive…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Some may argue that states with smaller populations have more of a say in voting, but it’s really helping the opinions of those smaller states. Document A from a document that shows the electoral votes by state clearly shows that the smaller states have slightly more voting power. There is nothing wrong with these smaller states having a vote advantage. Those states already have fewer representatives in the House so why not give them a bit more representation in our voting. On the same document, Document D shows the population of many different states and how they have more electoral votes than Illinois alone.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The lack of major U.S. presence in international economic issues causes many nations to collapse as well. The continent of Africa is the center of gravity for these failed states and radical groups.2 Major powers, such as China, are problematic as they aggressively claim areas surrounded their country. The United States focused on itself for the last decade and a half, but now faces the realities of looming national security threats from both state and non-state actors. The United States needs to refocus itself on the myriad of potential attacks that could endanger the country, including Iran and North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, and China’s strategy concerning aggressive land claims. The United States saw a departure from its role as “global policeman” with the election of…

    • 2250 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Military power grows within countries because the government are the ones supplying the weapons and therefore the overall destruction that war causes increases. Thus, he claims that war is what creates a state. This argument centers around the government acting as a racketeer. Racketeers are defined as “someone who creates a threat and then charges for its reduction” (Kivisto 244). According to Tilly, the government claims to protect its citizens from outside threats, but the threats may have been created because of the actions of the government.…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Liberalism In Iraq

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Nick Sherman Professor Asal Political science 102 9/27/16 In the wake of 9/11 The United States, The United Kingdom, and many other nations formed a coalition against the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein. The coalition force invaded in 2003 to overthrow Saddam’s dictatorship and establish a democratic state in the Middle East. Although in some instances realism can describe the invasion of Iraq, the theory of Liberalism best describes the invasion because of liberal notions such as collective security and the belief that cooperation can lead to beneficial outcomes to all involved.…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Fragile State Index (FSI), is an index created by the Fund for Peace in 2005 that analyses the fragility of 178 states. Ultimately, while the Fragility State Index (FSI) is a good starting point for analyzing the overall state strength of countries, taking into account the literature covered in the course thus far, the index contains flaws in indication and methodology that impedes it from being a comprehensive and definitive judgment of state fragility. The FSI is a tool that many researchers and comparativists use for policy and comparative theory building. The FSI is broken down into three major categories: Social Indicators, Economic Indicators, and Political and Military Indicators.…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “How are we to account for the willingness of major states to invest resources in expanding international institutions, if such institutions are lacking in significance?” (Keohane & Martin, 1995, pg. 40). Institutions are designed to enable cooperation in both security and economy because an institution’s main function is to be a secure conduit of information. Keohane and Martin reason, “Institutionalist theory should be highly applicable to security issues because its argument revolves around the role of institutions in providing information” (Keohane & Martin, 1995, pg. 43). This is in direct response to Mearsheimer’s assumption that institutionalist theory only applies to political economic issues.…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    World Systems Theory Essay

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Immanuel Wallerstein's World Systems Theory is one of the many influential theories that has shaped the social sciences in the late 20th century. First proposing the theory in his 1974 book, The Modern World System, Wallerstein sees the concept as not a theory, but as part of a larger “knowledge movement” that “[rejects] social science categories inherited from the nineteenth century”, aiming to construct a new approach to social science (Wallenstein 2013: 1). This new approach conceptualises inter-state relationships in the global economic system as part of a larger “world system” instead of unilateral or bilateral behaviours, argues that historical and contemporary events must be view over the “long term”, and emphasises the need for a multidisciplinary…

    • 1744 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This essay focuses on nation states and if they still play a central role in a globalized world. It mainly focuses on three arguments which are, the security and stability, nationalism and globalization as its own phase. To provide a justified response to this statement, one must know what the terms ‘Nation-states’ and ‘globalization’ mean. A nation state can be defined in several ways, but this essay focuses on a particular definition mentioned in one of the courses that relate to this topic, ‘Actors in world politics’ and it says that a nation state is a, “named human population sharing an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members”…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I. Introduction National image is important with each country. It is not only to show the basic information but also represent the picture of country to over the world. If the national image good, it makes country is more famous and support to contribute the economy developed. Except America-the most famous and powerful country in the world, some countries should be mentioned because of national image have changed and affect over the world. II.…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Soft Power In China

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In the 21st century, a country’s success not only depends on the triumph of its army, but also measured by how attractive its story is (Nye, 2005). From this perspective, larger country may not necessarily generate more soft power if the country emphasizes on its hard power and doesn’t take advantage of its potential soft power resources to convince others in a soft way. As the largest country in the world in terms of different aspects, China and India are also similar in some aspects that they worth a comparison under the concept of soft power. Firstly, as two of the most ancient civilizations in human history, China and India possess diverse and rich traditional cultures that can be made good use of to enhance their soft power. Secondly,…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays