Abstract
The European migration crisis was a crisis for small states in Europe in the sense that it disrupted the order upon which the European small states had increasingly based their policies and influence for more than 60 years. Among the most serious challenges were the renationalization of European politics, the return of geopolitics and disagreements among European great powers and the shifting policies of the most powerful actor, Germany. In order to meet these challenges, small states employed a number of external and domestic coping strategies. Externally, small states pursued strategies of shelter, hiding, hedging and norm entrepreneurship. Domestically, small states tended to securitize migration and to pursue scapegoating by blaming the EU and other states for the nature and magnitude of the crisis, while at the same time seeking administrative adaptation in order to meet the concrete day-to-day challenges of the crisis. The chapter identifies the consequences of these strategies for the influence and position of small states in Europe and discusses what the crisis and the ensuing responses from small states tell us about the nature and consequences of “smallness” in contemporary Europe.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersen, L. R. (2019). Curb Your Enthusiasm: Middle-Power Liberal Internationalism and the Future of the United Nations. International Journal, 74(1), 47–64.
Baldacchino, G., & Wivel, A. (2020). Small States: Concepts and Theories. In G. Baldacchino & A. Wivel (Eds.), Handbook on the Politics of Small States (pp. 2–19). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Björkdahl, A. (2007). Swedish Norm Entrepreneurship in the UN. International Peacekeeping, 14(4), 538–552.
Brady, H. (2021). Openness Versus Helplessness: Europe’s Border Crisis, 2015–2018. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 67–85). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gheciu, A. (2019). NATO, Liberal Internationalism, and the Politics of Imagining the Western Security Community. International Journal, 74(1), 32–46.
Gunnarsdóttir, A. A. K. (2021). The 2015 Migration Crisis as an Identity Crisis for Iceland. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 191–214). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
International Organization for Migration. (2016). Global Migration Trends Factsheet. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/global_migration_trends_2015_factsheet.pdf.
Jervis, R. (1978). Cooperation Under the Security Dilemma. World Politics, 30(2), 167–214.
Kaldor, M. et al. (2016, February 24). From Hybrid Peace to Human Security: Rethinking EU Strategy Towards Conflict. The Berlin report of the Human Security Studies Group, Brussels. https://europa.eu/globalstrategy/en/europe-peace-project.
Karatrantos, T. (2021). Migration and Security: The Case of Greece. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 113–131). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Luša, Đ. (2021). Small States: “The Gatekeepers” of EU Borders During the Migration Crisis. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 215–241). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Manners, I. (2002). Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms? Journal of Common Market Studies, 40(2), 235–258.
Murray, P. (2010). Comparative Regional Integration in the EU and East Asia: Moving Beyond Integration Snobbery. International Politics, 47(3/4), 308–323.
Neumann, I. B., & Gstöhl, S. (2006). Introduction: Lilliputians in Gulliver’s World? In C. Ingebritsen, I. B. Neumann, S. Gstöhl, & J. Beyer (Eds.), Small States in International Relations (pp. 3–36). Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Nobel Peace Prize. (2012). NobelPrize.org. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2012/press-release/.
Pace, R. (2021a). Immigration-Integration: A New Opportunity for the EU? In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 43–66). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pace, R. (2021b). Malta: A Janus Faced Migration and Integration Policy. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 133–163). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pedi, R., & Wivel, A. (2020). Small State Diplomacy After the Corona Crisis. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 15(4), 611–623.
Pevcin, P., & Rijavec, D. (2021). Coping with the Migration Crisis in a Small States in the European Union: The Experience of Slovenia. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 167–190). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pew Research Center. (2016). Number of Refugees to Europe Surges to Record 1.3 Million in 2015. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2016/08/02/number-of-refugees-to-europe-surges-to-record-1-3-million-in-2015/.
Sarapuu, K., Thorhallsson, B., & Wivel, A. (2021). Analysing Small States in Crisis: Fundamental Assumptions and Analytical Starting Points. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 19–40). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Thorhallsson, B., & Steinsson, S. (2017). Small State Foreign Policy. In Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-484?rskey=WrnYMr&result=1.
Trei, M., & Sarapuu, K. (2021). A Small Administration Facing a Complex Policy Challenge: Estonia and the 2015 Refugee Crisis. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 243–265). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tsardinidis, C. (2021). The (De)Europeanisation of Greece: Experience from the Eye of the Storm. In T. Joensen & I. Taylor (Eds.), Small States and the European Migrant Crisis: Politics and Governance (pp. 89–111). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wallace, W. (1999). Small European States and European Policy-Making: Strategies, Roles, Possibilities. In W. Wallace et al. (Eds.), Between Autonomy and Influence: Small States and the European Union (Arena Report No. 1/99). Oslo: Arena.
Wivel, A., & Thorhallsson, B. (2018). Brexit and Small States in Europe: Hedging, Hiding or Seeking Shelter? In P. Diamond, P. Nedergaard, & B. Rosamond (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Politics of Brexit (pp. 266–277). London: Routledge.
Wivel, A., & Wæver, O. (2018). The Power of Peaceful Change: The Crisis of the European Union and the Rebalancing of Europe’s Regional Order. International Studies Review, 20(2), 317–325.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wivel, A. (2021). Conclusion: Small States and the European Migrant Crisis—New Challenges and Coping Strategies. In: Joensen, T., Taylor, I. (eds) Small States and the European Migrant Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66203-5_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66203-5_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-66202-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-66203-5
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)