Significant Roles of Small States in Contemporary World Politics: Cases of the Small Monarchies of the Middle East

The article is concerned with the application of the concept of international roles for small states occupying the bottom floor of the international hierarchy. As is known, traditionally small states are characterized by low status, essential lack of influence on international affairs and complete dependence on great powers. At the same time, taking into account the sheer size of the group, it is possible to identify a subgroup of small states that are able to effectively employ their available resources and play a comparable role with middle or even great powers in world politics. In order to identify significant international roles, a typology is proposed that takes into account the main spheres of international interaction and the type of reference object for which the state in question plays a significant role (global, regional or dyadic levels). Such systematization of significant roles allows comparing vastly different countries, for instance, those belonging to different classes of the international hierarchy, including small, medium and leading states. In addition, the axis of reference objects in the typology allows to reflect an important sociological component of a role, which distinguishes it from a function. Based on the proposed typology of significant international roles, the article goes on to analyze the transformation of the roles of small Middle Eastern monarchies – namely, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in contemporary world politics, which constitute some of the most successful examples of small states that have achieved significant agency at the beginning of the 21st century.