A Fresh Consideration of Development Strategies for Smaller Island States and Territories - Island Futures: Conservation and Development Across the Asia-Pacific Region - page 53

Chapter 5
A Fresh Consideration of Development
Strategies for Smaller Island States
and Territories
Godfrey Baldacchino
Introduction
Much of the literature on the development prospects of small, often island,
jurisdictions is steeped in pessimism, driven by a serious concern as to the ability of
such players to exploit the opportunities of an increasingly globalised world and its
emergent liberalised trade rules (e.g. Briguglio 1995 : 1615-1620; Encontre 1999 : 265;
UNCTAD 2004 ; WTO 1999 ). It is common to argue that small size, islandness, vul-
nerability, and a low governance capacity conspire to exacerbate the existing margin-
alisation of small economies, and is a condition which therefore justifies calls for
special treatment. These arguments, however, “… are by no means uncontentious,
and are part of an ongoing debate” (Horscroft 2005 : 41). This paper aligns itself with
a more optimistic view of the prospects for these territories and their citizens, who
continue to exploit opportunities and maximise economic gains in a turbulent and
dynamic external environment (e.g. Streeten 1993 ; Easterly and Kraay 2000 ; Page and
Kleen 2004 : 82, 89-90). Unable to reap economies of scale, they practise economies of
scope. They do so also by keeping alive a portfolio of skills and revenue streams which
enables these actors to migrate both inter-sectorally, as well as trans-nationally.
While recognizing the real environmental threats of being a small, open, often
islanded economy - hurricanes, droughts, sea level rise, water shortages, waste
mountains … some small economies have done well and continue to do so. They are
'developed', or have 'graduated', not so much for having avoided major hazards, but
for having risen up to their challenge and prospered, because - and not in spite - of
their openness, perhaps becoming more resilient and nimble in the outcome.
In a globalized and interdependent world, all countries today face threats and
dependencies. The USA, often referred to as the current 'hyper-power', has had its
fair share of recent, psyche-changing disasters, including 9/11/2001, Hurricane Katrina
in 2005, the Wall Street Crash of 2008. All oil and gas importing countries have