The subject of alliances receives special attention in the international relations literature, but the majority of research focuses on the formation of alliances and, respectively, on the role played by great powers, concepts like balance of power, balance of threat and balance of interest being eloquent in this regard. Thus, the alliance behavior of small powers is an undertheorized theme, understood mostly through the same lens used for great powers. This paper will address this research gap by analyzing the evolution of alliance theory and its main strands, focusing on the need to differentiate between small and great powers.
Against this background, the objectives of the paper are to critically assess the claims of universality that characterize the broad field of alliance theory and to understand how revisions of the existing literature are made in order to include the conditions of small powers and their approaches to mitigate the specific risks of alliance management - abandonment and entrapment.