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I was reminded of Thomas M. Eccardt's 2005 Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe by a post that Hans Connor made over at Nissology, linking to an essay by UPEI professor Henry Srebrnik describing microstates and their ascent to viability.
The limits of sovereignty in the modern world are amply demonstrate by these polities' survival and relatively improved position; microstates are cool. As the sovereign microstates of western Europe pioneered this category of statehood, undertaking a comparative study would make sense.
Eccardt argues that despite the widely differing particulars of the history of the seven microstates of Europehe chose for his study--Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican City, and, giant of the category, Luxembourg--they share certain characteristics in common. They have recently evolved into fully sovereign states as determined by the international state system, for intance, moving out just far enough from under the shadow of a patron, but their development of such and even their survival is almost entirely as a fluke, a consequence of great power rivalries allowing very small polities a chance, and frequently not complete (few have their own militaries). Their economies, Eccardt points out, are driven by their ability to exploit their sovereignty, frequently offering financial services including both above-the-board banking and tax sheltering. They've frequently had traditional, pre-democratic systems of government survive long into the modern age, with Liechstenstein's prince having so much power to cause some to question the country's status as a democracy and the Vatican City--of course--being run by the Roman Catholic Church. Each microstate has tried to preserve its cultural heritage to varying degrees, most arguably being at least more successful than comparable nearby regions, but the economic development driven by their exploitation of their sovereignty certainly plugs them into the international system (Luxembourg and Malta are European Union member-states in their own right, and the others are closely associated with the EU) and incidentally attracts relatively very large numbers of immigrants.
The utility of Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe lies in its detailed exploration of the similarities shared by the oldest microstates in the world, answering the question "What is a microstate?" quite well. The parallels brought forward by Eccardt can easily be used to study other, non-western European microstates, highlighting their similarities and perhaps making predictions about their future development. In a world marked by the changing nature of sovereignty generally, illustrated by the continued development of new microstates may continue to develop (the Faroes, perhaps?) and compromises over sovereignty that other microstates must make (post-crash Iceland's European Union bid is an example), makes the study of the microstate more universally relevant that one might think. If you've ever been interested in very small countries--hey, even if the only thing you know about the microstate is the Grand Fenwick was a great background for funny stories--you wouldn't do at all badly to read Eccardt's tome. "Everything counts/in small amounts."
In the past considered too tiny to be full partners in the international community, these countries were viewed as anomalies, merely the leftover quirks of history.
When the League of Nations was founded after the First World War, none of them joined. And when the successor United Nations was formed in 1945, again none were among the original 51 signatories to its charter.
However, post-war global decolonization resulted in a wave of sovereign microstates, most of them small islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific. Today's Commonwealth (of which Malta is a member) is largely a collection of such countries.
This paradigm shift allowed the European microstates to take their rightful place as full members of the international community.
[. . .]
No longer is size an impediment for countries wishing to make their mark in the world.
The limits of sovereignty in the modern world are amply demonstrate by these polities' survival and relatively improved position; microstates are cool. As the sovereign microstates of western Europe pioneered this category of statehood, undertaking a comparative study would make sense.
Eccardt argues that despite the widely differing particulars of the history of the seven microstates of Europehe chose for his study--Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican City, and, giant of the category, Luxembourg--they share certain characteristics in common. They have recently evolved into fully sovereign states as determined by the international state system, for intance, moving out just far enough from under the shadow of a patron, but their development of such and even their survival is almost entirely as a fluke, a consequence of great power rivalries allowing very small polities a chance, and frequently not complete (few have their own militaries). Their economies, Eccardt points out, are driven by their ability to exploit their sovereignty, frequently offering financial services including both above-the-board banking and tax sheltering. They've frequently had traditional, pre-democratic systems of government survive long into the modern age, with Liechstenstein's prince having so much power to cause some to question the country's status as a democracy and the Vatican City--of course--being run by the Roman Catholic Church. Each microstate has tried to preserve its cultural heritage to varying degrees, most arguably being at least more successful than comparable nearby regions, but the economic development driven by their exploitation of their sovereignty certainly plugs them into the international system (Luxembourg and Malta are European Union member-states in their own right, and the others are closely associated with the EU) and incidentally attracts relatively very large numbers of immigrants.
The utility of Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe lies in its detailed exploration of the similarities shared by the oldest microstates in the world, answering the question "What is a microstate?" quite well. The parallels brought forward by Eccardt can easily be used to study other, non-western European microstates, highlighting their similarities and perhaps making predictions about their future development. In a world marked by the changing nature of sovereignty generally, illustrated by the continued development of new microstates may continue to develop (the Faroes, perhaps?) and compromises over sovereignty that other microstates must make (post-crash Iceland's European Union bid is an example), makes the study of the microstate more universally relevant that one might think. If you've ever been interested in very small countries--hey, even if the only thing you know about the microstate is the Grand Fenwick was a great background for funny stories--you wouldn't do at all badly to read Eccardt's tome. "Everything counts/in small amounts."
