Small States and the Pillars of Economic Resilience

Edited by Professor Lino Briguglio, Dr Gordon Cordina, Ms Nadia Farrugia and Ms Constance Vigilance

The Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat has just published a book entitled “Small States and the Pillars of Economic Resilience.”

The main argument put forward in the book is that economic resilience can be built through appropriate policy interventions in four principal areas, namely macroeconomic stability, microeconomic market efficiency, good governance and social development

This publication is the outcome of a collaborative project between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Islands and Small States Institute which involved the publication of 4 books and the organisation of technical Workshops on the construction of an index to measure economic resilience.
It is planned that the project will be further developed through the undertaking of country-specific case studies which may serve as examples of best practice conducive to economic resilience building.

More information about the book can be obtained from Ms Isabelle Vella, Islands and Small States Institute, University of Malta, Msida, Malta Tel/Fax +356 21344879; email: islands@um.edu.mt

The Company's Island: St Helena, Company Colonies and the Colonial Endeavour

by Stephen Royle

As English adventurer Francis Drake and his contemporaries opened up seaborne trade with Asia and the East, so dreams of untold wealth fuelled the appetites of European nations. A new form of co-operation arose between governments and entrepreneurs - the merchant company. Vital to the entire commercial and colonial endeavour, part of the story of Empire lies in the outposts they established. The Company's Island focuses upon one such company colony - St Helena. With no indigenous population on the island, the East India Company had to establish a society from scratch but far from settling 'in love and amity' a repressive and turbulent regime ensued. The civilian population rebelled, the garrison mutinied, assassinating the governor, and a rebellion by black slaves was savagely punished. The result is a vivid, compelling tale involving issues of race, morality, gender, trade and defence within the context of Empire. Drawing on new archival material, the author sheds fresh light on an important yet little known aspect of the colonial endeavour.

Stephen A. Royle is Reader in Geography at Queen's University Belfast. He is Director of Queen's University Centre of Canadian Studies and a past President of the Geographical Society of Ireland

Available from I.B. Tauris publishers

A World of Islands: An Island Studies Reader

Edited by Godfrey Baldachinno

A pan-disciplinary celebration of what island studies has to offer - intended as the first global reader in the study of islands to be published in 2007.

A World of Islands is a thoroughly referenced, comprehensive and pluri-disciplinary overview of the study of islands. Over 40 scholars and other contributors from all over the world, and from numerous disciplinary backgrounds, extend their expertise and ideas to highlight insights from, and for, the study of islands and island life. Material is as jargon-free as possible to facilitate understanding across specialisations.

Published by Agenda, Malta in collaboration with Institute of Island Studies, Canada.

Download the order form (pdf)

Chinese Islanders: Making a Home in the New World

Hung-Min Chiang
Island Studies Press 2006

Chinese Islanders: Making a Home in the New World tells the story of some of Prince Edward Island 's first Chinese settlerswho came to the Island as early as 1850. They were subjected to the infamous "head tax," as well as the more severe Chinese Immigration Act (also known as the Chinese Expulsion Act). But through it all, they and their descendants have largely adapted to and succeeded in mainstream Island society, and are proud today to be recognized as true Islanders.

Copies can be ordered from
UPEI Bookstore e-mail: bookstore@upei.ca/bookstore

Doing Development Differently: Regional Development on the Atlantic Periphery

Susan Hodgett, David Johnson and Stephen A. Royle (eds.)
Cape Breton University Press 2007

There is longstanding public, academic and governmental recognition that regionalism is important in defining a nation and there is an awareness that socio-economically healthy regions are vital to the national well-being of the broader state. Yet all countries possess regional socio-economic disparities of greater or lesser degrees.

This collection of 13 articles by scholars and practitioners from Ireland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, documents interventions that address regional disparity by challenging established patterns and seeking to build community capacity.

Participatory democracy, the values of localism, small group dynamics, co-operativism, grass-roots activism and decision-making that flows “bottom-up,” are slowly informing public policy initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic .

To order copies visit the UCCN Pres website

http://www.uccbpress.ca/CEDtitles.html#DDD