Edited version of a Keynote Address delivered at the Conference of the International Small Island Studies Association, Kinmen Island (Quemoy) Taiwan, November 4, 2004.
Do small islands have a future in a globalised world? This question is not as outrageous as it might sound. The economic viability, political integrity and even the physical survival of small island states and communities are threatened by several developments associated with globalisation. There is a seeming contradiction between the failure of the world community to put in place arrangements to handle the peculiar circumstances of small islands on the one hand, and the value it places on the existence of these communities on the other hand.
…I will argue that the emerging system of global governance needs to be (re)designed to give explicit recognition to he ‘right to exist’ small island states and communities.
