Workshop on sub-national island jurisdictions

An international group of renowned international experts is proposing a new category of territories - sub-national island jurisdictions (SNIJs) - to the Commonwealth during a workshop at the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday and Wednesday, as part of the Commonwealth People's Forum.

Under the leadership of Professor Godfrey Baldacchino, the Canada Research Chair in Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), in collaboration with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICS) of the University of London, the experts are proposing "a new perspective to the Commonwealth which can harbour very interesting and innovative approaches to sustainable development." They hope this new category will achieve the same recognition and attention given to small states and small island developing states (SIDS).

Professor Baldacchino explains: "Our main objective is to invite the Commonwealth to recognise SNIJs as a new category of candidates that deserves being recognised as such, and from whose recognition many vital lessons in 'shared rule' could be gleaned. The benefits of such analysis can extend far and wide, to many other jurisdictions."

"SNIJs are neither sovereign nor dependent. They occupy a very interesting, fuzzy 'middle ground' between sovereignty and municipality that, in itself, creates enormous opportunities for creative governance that usually delivers economic success and sustainable development. Look at Bermuda, Aland, Aruba, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Hong Kong, Macau... they are all SNIJs. There are about 114 in the world today, including Gozo."

The workshop, of which Professor Baldacchino is the ideator and a moderator, is also partly funded by a standard research grant that he has obtained from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. It is also supported by the Nordic Council for Regional Research (NordRegio).

The workshop falls under a research project, launched earlier this year.

"The project is a natural development from one based on North Atlantic Islands which UPEI pioneered in the early 1990s," Professor Baldacchino explains.

"The lessons learnt from the manner in which sub-sovereign island entities - like Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Greenland, Faroes, Aland Islands or the Isle of Man - deal with many policy issues, like natural resource management, alternative energy, tourism, vocational training, youth migration, health, and small business or local government, are so relevant and uncannily similar and proving more and more relevant in a world that is increasingly coming to terms with multi-level governance. The current project takes this focus to the next level, with a truly global playing field and where the Commonwealth has an obvious role to play."

Professor Baldacchino lists the workshop's key aims: to start discussing SNIJs as a valid and pertinent, analytic and global category; and to continue working with Commonwealth-related institutions to facilitate a broader acceptability of why SNIJs are important and provide interesting and fresh lessons in sustainable development.

"Closer to home," Professor Baldacchino points out, "the existence of Gozo as a sub-national jurisdiction can open up interesting opportunities in domestic, political development; differentiated economic development and the use of governance as an economic resource.

"It is also apt to hold this event in Malta - not only because Malta itself is a successful, small sovereign state, but also because Gozo, where CHOGM itself will convene on Friday, has characteristics of a sub-national island jurisdiction."

The Commonwealth has a long-standing interest in the study of small states, having also supported a United Nations-driven initiative to examine small island developing states (SIDS), a category posing its own challenges; 28 Commonwealth members deal with SNIJs within their jurisdiction. Britain alone deals with 15 overseas island territories.

"The Commonwealth is very comfortable with the category of 'small states' or 'small island developing states'," Professor Baldacchino points out. "Some of these island jurisdictions are legitimate players in some of the Commonwealth manifold institutions - like the Commonwealth Games. The Commonwealth is also considering granting associate membership to some of the SNIJs associated with its member states."

The academics attending the workshop are mainly geographers, economists and political scientists.

Among those who have confirmed their attendance are: RoseMarie Azzopardi, Dr David Milne and Dr Edward Warrington (University of Malta); Dr Harvey Armstrong (University of Sheffield); Dr Barry Bartmann (University of Prince Edward Island, Canada), Dr Agneta Karlsson and Dr Bjarne Lindstrom (Aland Statistical Office, Aland Islands); Dr Robert Read (University of Lancaster, UK); Dr Timothy Shaw (Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, UK); and Dr Elaine Stratford (University of Tasmania).