Small States in International Politics: A Polar-Political Perspective

• Published in: Cooperation and Conflict
• Main Author: Skagestad, Gunnar
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1974
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001083677400900211; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/001083677400900211

The study of small states may be perceived, alternatively, as a distinctly separate discipline within the broader subject area of international politics, or, as one particular approach to the study of international politics in general. So may the study of the ‘new territories’. In this chapter, the two perspectives combine. Presenting the ‘new territories studies’ as a novel approach to the traditional small states studies, the chapter discusses the practical/political possibilities and limitations inherent in the small states' situation and is also an attempt to contribute toward an improved theoretical basis for the study of small-state behavior. The empirical material is mainly the developments in inter-state relations which have taken place in the Antarctic (the ‘Antarctic Model’); the Arctic situation is also presented for comparative purposes. The author arrives at certain guarded generalizations, where the need for international cooperation emerges as a major contingent factor regarding the validity of descriptive and normative hypothesizing on small state behavior.