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Small States at the Security Council: From the Background to Center Stage How do the Security Council’s practices and discussions contribute to defining “small states” as a political category? Inversely, how do states which present themselves as “small states” influence Security Council negotiations? If the attempts to define a specific legal status for small states have never been successful for political reasons, the international prioritization process at work in the Security Council has become more complex. Absent states in the body have been downgraded to the point of becoming insignificant. Therefore, states increasingly take action to participate. Once at the negotiating table, those states which consider themselves small, or are considered as such, fall according to their practices into three groups. They are either onlookers simply making an appearance, silhouettes that occasionally express themselves, or supporting actors which strive to replicate permanent and reccurring members of the Security Council and influence long term working methods and negotiation practices of the Council. ■