「これまでのグローバル・スタディーズにはしばしば「大国」の観点が自明のものとして持ち込まれていたのではないかという問題意識を持ち、「小国」の観点から「普遍」を問いなおそうとしました。小国論は東欧を対象に研究が進んできましたが、本書では特にケベックと日本の観点から新たな小国論の構築を試みています。」（伊達聖伸）With emphasis on East Asian and North American examples - notably Japan and Quebec - Date, Laniel and their contributors take a new approach to the understanding of small nations and their role in the international system. Small nations, by their very nature, raise significant questions about what a nation is. Some small nations are sovereign states with relatively small populations and limited territory, others are nations within larger sovereign states, with distinctive cultures, governance structures, or other features that differentiate them from their "parent" state. By focussing on non-European nations in particular, the contributors to this volume challenge our conceptions of what a small nation is and how it operates within the international system. They focus in particular on the nation-within-a-nation-state of Quebec and on Japan, supplemented by further examples from East Asia. By interrogating what these examples have to show us about the typology and character of small nations, they offer a critique of superpower and draw out the potential of small nation studies.