What is the story behind the paradoxical survival of small and weak states in a world of great powers and crude power politics? The answer lies at the system-level: Small states survival is shaped by the international states system. Resting on three main pillars – theory, history, and quantitative analysis – the study’s key findings draw a picture of the small state as highly dependent on the states system in its efforts to survive. The investigation is focused on the causal link between small state survival, abolishment, or proliferation and the states system in its various historical incarnations. This provides the basis for the main argument: Variations in the states system’s main characteristics create noticeable changes in the system’s hospitality toward the small state and thus impact heavily on small state survivability. These dynamics lead to small state creation and termination, which is reflected in and thus explains the large up- or downward changes in the number of small states over time.