Introduction

This chapter provides an overall introduction to the edited volume. After situating the book in the numerous and diverse challenges that EU member states currently face, the chapter discusses what is actually meant by ‘small EU member state’ within the context of this edited volume. The third section of the chapter explores how these members are trying to compensate for their physical smallness and what kind of strategies they apply to maximize their impact on the EU and its decision-making process. The last section presents the structure of the book and briefly discusses individual chapters and their main goals and findings.