Dominating Smallness

Abstract

Theories that involve notions of size belong to a set of theories that are usually submitted to objections concerning determinism. An examination of the party systems of 31 small island states suggests, however, that there has been ample room for active subjects and intervening factors in the creation of party systems. Although the environments are, by and large, similar in size, the outcomes are very different in terms of parties. The propositions in the classical treatise of Robert Dahl and Edward Tufte that small units, because of their smallness, produce configurations characterized by a lack of parties or alternatively by one-party predominance, receive only weak overall support. One reason for this is that traits like homogeneity, which are usually believed to appear in close association with diminutive size, do not in fact show a systematic association. However, notions of size are not meaningless. When one moves from small island systems to very small island systems with populations of about 100,000 or less, relevant differences appear to emerge that suggest a link between miniaturism and party system characteristics.

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