The Types of European Small States

Quantitative criteria (such as territory, population, gross national product, armed forces, etc.) alone are insufficient to define small states.
The common characteristic of small states is that, due to their physical capacities, their international positions are relatively weak, their international interests and awareness are more regionally restricted, their range of natural resources is narrower, their domestic markets are smaller, their production is more specialized, and they are heavily dependent on foreign trade. On the other hand, they tend to be more agile, more responsive to changes, more willing to experiment with reforms, possess stronger internal cohesion, and strive to assert their identity, making them remarkably resilient.

The role of small states has not always been positive, nor has that of great powers always been negative. In various international settlements (1648, 1715, 1763, 1815), the great powers deemed the existence of certain small states necessary, primarily those they intended to utilize for specific purposes. Such small states were also provided with protection. The security of small states primarily depends on external, international factors.

Developmental Types of European Small States:

1. Small states benefiting from lasting external security factors:
   These are states that could consistently rely on additional security factors providing surplus strength. For instance, Switzerland received specific tasks and international guarantees from the great powers.

2. Small states with fluctuating external factors:
   This category includes certain German and Italian small states whose external security factors proved to be variable in nature. For a time, these factors were strongly influential but weakened over time.

3. Small states emerging through integrating external factors:
   This type is characterized by the emergence of external integrating factors that facilitated the development of larger multinational, supranational political frameworks. Included here are small states born out of national movements, which were previously part of larger empires (e.g., the Ottoman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy, or Russia) and later gained independence. Neighboring powers often preferred these peoples to remain unified under a larger political organization for a considerable time.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Europe was dominated by the prevailing political influence of six great powers. The limited room for maneuvering available to small states was a consequence of the rivalry between the two power blocs.

Kosáry Domokos "A történelem veszedelmei", Magvető könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1987