Small State Status-Seeking: Lithuania’s Foreign Policy Status Aspirations

Ausra Park and Gerda Jakstaite-Confortola

Europe-Asia Studies, 2021, vol. 73, issue 7, 1279-1302

Abstract: Research on status-seeking in international politics offers valuable insights into why countries of various sizes may and sometimes do act in unexpected and apparently irrational ways. This article applies a status-seeking theoretical framework, that of Social Identity Theory, to explain a small, materially weak state’s unconventional foreign policy choices. Our case study focuses on Lithuania’s ambitious engagement in the EU’s Eastern Partnership programme, targeting Ukraine and Georgia. We find that a status-focused analysis helps to better comprehend several ‘unusual’ foreign policy initiatives launched by Lithuanian policymakers since the 2000s, the ultimate purpose of which, we argue, is the pursuit of higher status.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2021.1919291

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