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Thucydides or Kissinger? A Critical Review of Smaller State Diplomacy

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The Diplomacies of Small States

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

In The Peloponnesian War, Thucydides (1972: 402) highlights the effects of the general weakness of smaller states vis-à-vis larger, more powerful ones in a key passage where the Athenians remind the Melians that:

you know as well as we do that, as the world goes, right is only in question between equals in power. Meanwhile, the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

My gratitude to the discussants of the workshop on small state diplomacies convened by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) at the Institute of International Relations, St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, 20–23 February 2008. Special thanks to Andrew F. Cooper, Donna Lee, Vaughan A. Lewis, Debbie Mohammed, Keith Nurse, Naren Prasad, Baldur Thorallsson and William Vlcek. Additional useful comments were received from Philip Nel, Kathleen Stuart and Jordan Blake Walker. The usual disclaimers apply.

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Authors
  1. Godfrey Baldacchino
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for International Governance Innovation, Canada

    Andrew F. Cooper (Associate Director and Distinguished Fellow) (Associate Director and Distinguished Fellow)

  2. Institute of International Relations, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Timothy M. Shaw (Professor and Director) (Professor and Director)

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© 2009 Godfrey Baldacchino

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Baldacchino, G. (2009). Thucydides or Kissinger? A Critical Review of Smaller State Diplomacy. In: Cooper, A.F., Shaw, T.M. (eds) The Diplomacies of Small States. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230246911_2

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