COPING STRATEGIES OF THE CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPEAN SMALL STATES IN THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE DOMINATED BY GREATER STATES IN THE WEST AND EAST

Abstract

Following World War I the empires ruling East-Central Europe were replaced by a conglomerate of small nation-states inexperienced in navigating themselves in the turbulent waters of foreign policy. The paper will deal with the different coping strategies of the individual small nation-states in the newly established international scene dominated by greater powers such as Germany, France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Four strategies will be discussed, such as national autism, parasitism, opportunism, and realism.