内容简介：
This paper analyses the trends in the relative significance of small states in world trade, and looks at the reasons for their marginalisation. It advocates that dependence on primary products and increasing globalisation explain much of the trend in the declining significance of small states, but that there are four other key factors: the structure of the export trade; the unfavourable geographical positions of many small states; their lack of financial resources; the global trade regime under the WTO.