When the world was still a global village, a small European country could reasonably choose to be unaligned or neutral. It could steer its course as a sovereign nation and do some nice cherry-picking from international alliances on the side. If it was blessed with resources or a profitable niche business sector, then it could even delude itself with the belief that it hardly needed others at all.

Look at Switzerland, which calmy and neutrally sailed the waves of globalization for many years. Look at Iceland: in NATO but outside the European Union, and which never built a standing army because it never had the need. Or look at Norway, another NATO member outside the EU, proudly enjoying its wealth and independence while quietly copying most of the EU’s rulebook. Until a few years ago, all these small states thought they had the best of all worlds.

When the world was still a global village, a small European country could reasonably choose to be unaligned or neutral. It could steer its course as a sovereign nation and do some nice cherry-picking from international alliances on the side. If it was blessed with resources or a profitable niche business sector, then it could even delude itself with the belief that it hardly needed others at all.

Look at Switzerland, which calmy and neutrally sailed the waves of globalization for many years. Look at Iceland: in NATO but outside the European Union, and which never built a standing army because it never had the need. Or look at Norway, another NATO member outside the EU, proudly enjoying its wealth and independence while quietly copying most of the EU’s rulebook. Until a few years ago, all these small states thought they had the best of all worlds.

No more. While large, predatory global powers with imperialistic ambitions are at each other’s throats again, the little ones become prey. Now, suddenly, they feel vulnerable and seek cover in Europe.

Iceland will hold a referendum on joining the EU by 2027. Public support for joining—45 percent, according to some polls—is well established, according to the country’s foreign minister. It seems almost forgotten that the Icelandic government itself stopped accession negotiations in 2013 because it did not want to subject its fisheries to EU rules. Now, Iceland argues that its previous advancement in accession negotiations is a positive going forward. As a NATO member, the country relies solely on the United States for its security. But with U.S. President Donald Trump backtracking on his NATO commitments, it seems unwise to keep betting on just one horse. Recently, the EU and Iceland have also had talks about more defense cooperation.

Norway is making a similar trade-off. Norwegians have voted against EU membership twice via........

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