Kaip kalbėti apie mažas valstybes? Mažumo reikšmių analizė ; How should we discuss small states? Analysing the definitions of smallness

Abstract

The study aims to explain the ways to discuss about small states and their foreign and security policy. Most of the academic publications dedicated to analyse the definition of small state provide different definitions based on different theories of International Relations, which also include various explanations on how size determines the behavior of a small state. These generalised explanations seem to be very limited because they are not able to give a clear understanding of why the so-called small states exercise different foreign and security policy. Therefore, another view point is chosen – to analyse the ways how states understand their smallness and what meanings define this category of size. The research is based on poststructuralism in International Relations. This theoretical perspective argues that an objective, given and materially described reality does not exist. Discursive meanings, identity and different practices of social construction are much more important objects for analysis. From this point of view, smallness is understood not as an overall and objective factor, but as an identity dimension constructed through different meanings. Two chosen cases – Lithuania and New Zealand – prove that despite the fact that both countries are understood as small, the perception of smallness and its relevance are very different. Five sizes (physical, normative, political, sovereignty and perception), used as a methodological tool, show that various meanings of being a small country are affected not only by physical size.