| Some small states are playing lead roles in the international system. For example, the Netherlands is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, promoting stronger environmental policy in the European Union and at the United Nations, and helping developing countries to eliminate pollution and protect their environments. Paradoxically, small states are not usually perceived as leaders in international relations. Instead, small states are described as filling supporting roles and as concerned primarily with their survival. Why are small states playing lead roles?; Roles provide the window to explore why a small state can act with importance in the international system. The study presents a transformational process in which states appropriate and instantiate intersubjective meanings, act on these meanings by playing roles, and vis-a-vis their actions transform the international system. Roles play an important function in this cycle because they recursively mold and are the personification of identity. In this case, the Netherlands has appropriated and instantiated a lead role, and through its actions transformed the international system.; The threat of climate change is significant for all states. In response, the Netherlands has played a lead role through its strong drive to create effective international and domestic policies to reduce climate change. The Dutch have achieved two lead roles, frontrunner and example. In addition, the Dutch have played an ascribed role as environmental diplomats. The Netherlands has also played the unusual roles of veto and independent in a few instances. These roles personify the meanings the Dutch hold about the environment and their relationship to their land and the sea.; The case illustrates that small states can occupy special positions in the international system and choose lead roles. Additionally, small states seek not only their survival, but also the spaces to assert their independence. Self-preservation may not be the all-important motivation driving state action, nor does the international structure completely constrain a small state from playing a lead role. Consequently, small states are not the same as large states and small state actions are important to understanding how states achieve and instantiate roles in the international system. |
