The identity of smallness and its implications for foreign policy – the case of Hungary and Slovakia

Máté Szalai

Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 2017, vol. 25, issue 3, 345-366

Abstract: This article seeks to unfold the role of self-perception in the foreign policy-making of small states. Debating the expectations of the mainstream literature, the author introduces the concept of the identity of smallness, namely an actor’s perception of its own size and weakness in the international arena as a factor which predominantly shapes its foreign policy and tests the theory on the case of Hungary and Slovakia. Analysing the most important strategic documents as manifestations of self-perception, the study concludes that the identity of Slovakia and Hungary regarding their size is markedly different which enables them to conduct different foreign policies in practice despite their systemically similar situations.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1080/25739638.2017.1406182

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