The story of small state survival: past, present, and future

In the previous chapters, it has been demonstrated how over more than 3 ½ centuries, the fate of small states has depended first of all on the states system. This chapter concludes the investigation with the key finding, that small state survival and proliferation are largely system-dependent phenomena. It is pointed out that the small state’s dependency and its structural irrelevance in a world of power are critical to properly understanding the issue of small state survival. On the one hand, small states are units that don’t matter much to the system. On the other hand, small states’ survival is to a good degree predetermined by the particular system in which they exist, but which they cannot shape.