Small state

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Vatican City - with 0.44 km² the smallest small state in the world

A small state is a state with a comparatively small national territory and / or a small population . Opposite are the area states .

General

Small state is a generic term, which also includes micro-states and mini-states belong. Small states are the object of knowledge in political science and geography , but a general definition of the term small state cannot be found here. The specialist literature limits the population for small states to 15 million inhabitants, for micro-states to a maximum of 3 million and the area to 5000 km². In 1972, Erich Obst categorized the non-trans- or subcontinental states with, in his eyes, neutral terms as macrotope ( area states with more than 800,000 km²), mesotope (states between 40,000 and 800,000 km²), microtope (states between 1000 and 40,000 km²) or minitope (States with less than 1000 km²).

The major states have always been of scientific interest .

The term small state comes from colloquial language. It was initially used to highlight the political ineffectiveness or dependence of a state on a neighboring great power . This often constitutes criticism or discrimination (such as the small states in Germany). Often the small state is also used as a synonym for the dwarf state. However, the meaning is not uniform regionally and is subject to change. In Switzerland , the concept of a small state is part of the national self-image. In this context it is usually positively associated with external neutrality , comfort, clarity and a citizen-oriented, direct democracy .

For the question of whether a state is to be classified as a small state , a medium- sized state or a major power , there are no criteria that are binding under constitutional, international law or political science. The classification thus depends on primarily subjective perceptions or on the comparison of various parameters between two or more countries. However , this does not play a role in international law . According to the principle of equality of states , as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations , small states have the same rights as larger states. The German constitutional law teacher Karl Heinrich Friauf stated that innovations in the area of state constitutions can "begin in smaller states in particular".

Small states worldwide

With regard to their national territory, all states can be divided into large states with continental dimensions ( Russia , Canada , USA , People's Republic of China , Brazil and Australia ), territorial states ( India , Argentina , Kazakhstan , Algeria ) and small states. The following small states are classified according to continents (in descending order of size):

All city-states belong to the category of small states such as Macau , Monaco or Singapore. Many island states belong to the small states such as Bahamas , Fiji , Cape Verde, Kiribati , Comoros, Marshall Islands , Solomon Islands , Samoa , Tonga , Trinidad and Tobago , Vanuatu or the smallest Tuvalu and Nauru . Indonesia , on the other hand, is an area state.

economic aspects

Many economic indicators show statistical abnormalities in the case of small states and are therefore only of limited significance. They are an inadequate criterion for assessing the respective economic situation and useless for a comparison of states. Area - dependent indicators ( population density ), population - dependent indicators ( per capita income , gross domestic product per capita, foreigner quota ) or volume-dependent indicators ( export quota ) often show extreme values ​​compared to the territorial states. The highest population density is found in small states such as Malta (1386 inhabitants / km²), Vatican City (1884 inhabitants / km²), Bahrain (1974 inhabitants / km²), Singapore (8178 inhabitants / km²) and Monaco (18,900 inhabitants / km²). Small states usually also have higher export quotas than large-scale states, because the latter are generally better equipped with production factors. For example, in 2017 Luxembourg (230%), Malta (136.1%) or Ireland (120%) had the highest export quotas in Europe, while Germany (47.2%) and France (30.9%), as typical export nations, had significantly lower ones Odds. In terms of gross domestic product per capita, the small states of Luxembourg (US $ 105,803 per capita), Switzerland (US $ 80,591) and Macau (US $ 77,451) led the way in 2017 ; The USA followed only in 8th place (US $ 59,501). Quotas for foreigners are extremely high in small states, because even small numbers of migrants meet a hardly larger total population. In 2015, the United Arab Emirates (88.4%), Qatar (75.5%), Kuwait (73.6%) and Liechtenstein (62.6%) led the way in this statistic ; the EU average was 7.79%.

Small states require less investment in their infrastructure such as roads, waterways or the laying of pipelines because they do not have to cover a large area. They have often discovered and cultivated a market niche for themselves. Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco and Singapore, for example, are among the tax havens , exotic island states advertise mass tourism (Bahamas, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago).

The economist Hans-Heinrich Bass describes the strong dependency of the economy of a small state on world market developments as the nutshell effect . He describes the strong effects of global economic changes on the economies of small states as the mocha cup effect .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Bruha / Katja Gey-Ritter, Kleinstaat und Integration , in: Archiv des Völkerrechts, Issue 2 Volume 36, 1998, p. 154
  2. ↑ Sven Pastoors / Loek Geeraedts / Amand Berteloot, Adaptation at any price? , 2005, p. 24
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Ismayr (Ed.), The political systems of West Europe , 1997, p. 677
  4. ↑ Albert Manke / Katerina Brezinová (eds.), Small states and secondary actors in the Cold War , 2016, p. 56
  5. ↑ Erich Obst / Martin Schmithüsen (eds.), Allgemeine Staatsgeographie , 1972, p. 13
  6. ↑ Robert Haas, Small States in International Relations in the 21st Century , 2015, p. 5
  7. ↑ Redaktion Duden (Hrsg.), Duden - German Universal Dictionary , 6th, revised and expanded edition, 2006 - Term: " Zwergstaat  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ".@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.duden.de  
  8. ↑ See e.g. B. Tages-Anzeiger of November 27, 2007, The new well-being in the small state
  9. ↑ see German version at UNRIC.org - Art. 2 no. 1 UN-Ch.
  10. ^ Karl Heinrich Friauf, The State Budget Plan in the Tension Between Parliament and Government , Volume 1, 1968, p. 14
  11. ↑ Lucien Bürcker, States of the World at a Glance , 2016, p. 15
  12. ↑ Statista The Statistics Portal, European Union: Export Quotas in the Member States in 2017 , 2019
  13. ↑ Hans-Heinrich Bass, Research Project Economic Small States Research , Research Report 2010/11 , pp 23-24