Call for Papers

The 1st International Conference on Small Island States and Subnational Island Jurisdictions

The 1st International Conference on Small Island States (SIS) and Subnational Island Jurisdictions (SNIJs)

Location: The Shared (Dutch/French) Island of Sint Maarten/St Martin
Venue: The University of St Martin, Philipsburg
Dates: 11-14 March 2018

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS: October 1, 2017

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION FORM

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) comprise a significant and vocal lobby of sovereign island states: of late, they have been especially active on the ‘climate change’ front, and have secured global media attention to (and much sympathy with) their predicament as likely victims of global warming and sea level rise at UNFCCC COP 15 in Copenhagen (2009) and again at COP 21 in Paris (2015).

To this well-organized and visible category, it is time to acknowledge another, much less organized and much less visible, but even more numerous: that consisting of SNIJs: subnational island jurisdictions.

SNIJs, and their residents, have their own stories to tell, particularly in how they have navigated the always tortuous, often tense, relationships with their metropolitan powers and governments. In many cases, these non-sovereign territories have shied away from outright independence, even when this option was encouraged by their respective metropole. Instead, they have opted for federalist arrangements that offer varying degrees of autonomy and self-determination, while maintaining important ‘provisions’ from their ‘mainland’: defence, welfare, international representation, citizenship and mobility rights.

For more information visit: http://projects.upei.ca/unescochair/call-for-papers/

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