From the wings to the footlights

The smallest of Europe's microstates have experienced a unique, lengthy and incremental passage to sovereignty and their full participation in the organised relations of the international system. This contribution focuses on the long struggle of these states to achieve state equality and allowing their inclusion as equal members in interstate organisations and as legitimate holders of the full rights of legation. Important in this narrative is the incremental strategies of the microstates themselves, the waning interest in further exclusion by the international community, and the pressure and interventions exerted by neighbours, particularly the Council of Europe. The conclusion offers a comparative assessment of the smallest states in the developing world in a similar population class which never faced questions of legitimacy undermining their status and inclusion but which are extremely hard pressed economically in comparison to their wealthy European counterparts