European microstates on the global chess board: history and modernity

In a historical retrospective the issues of the gradual change in the status and the role of the European microstates in international relations over the past century are considered in the article. It is shown that over this period they have moved on from the initial reduction of their position to the level of protectorates and the refusal of their acceptance into international organizations to their recognition as sovereign states that occupy an important place in modern international affairs. It is concluded that a significant role in this metamorphosis was played by the process of sharp positive transformations in the economy of these countries, which began in the late 1960s, and also by their accession to the UN as full-fledged members in the early 1990s. It is stated that despite the negative changes over the past one and a half decades in the economic situation the European microstates can no longer return to their former position of political pawns in world politics.