In the contemporary international community small states face certain limitations due to their intrinsic characteristics and the position in international governmental organizations (IGOs). They can overcome these limitations by holding a presidency in their organs. Through a constructivist lens, the master’s thesis explores how factors that determine the opportunities and constraints of small states affect their utilization of the presidency in organs of IGOs to pursue their interests. By analysing factors of opportunities and constraints the master’s thesis explains the choice of strategies and roles of small states during presidencies. The empirical section tests these assumptions with a case study of Slovenian presidencies of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (2009) and the United Nations Human Rights Council (2018). It does this with the analysis of primary and secondary sources, as well as semi-structured interviews. The master’s thesis shows that the Republic of Slovenia did not perceive limitations during the presidencies, and it successfully pursued its interests due to its political will, well-defined and focused priorities, the use of diplomatic skills, experience and knowledge, co-operation with the respective secretariats, acting as an honest broker and less as a norm advocate. Thus, it pursued a problem-solving and equality strategy towards the presidencies, while playing the role of a mediator and a bureaucrat. The master’s thesis shows that small states, while facing non-negligible constraints during their presidencies of organs of IGOs, can, by taking advantage of various opportunities, pursue their own interests. These are not exclusively their own but are also based on pursuing the interests of IGOs while considering the institutional frameworks of IGOs’ organs.
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