In or out : sub-national island jurisdictions and the antechamber of para-diplomacy

When East Timor achieved sovereignty on 20 May 2002, the ceremony marked not only the end of an agonizing process of self-determination for the islanders of this small territory, but also arguably the final act of European decolonization itself. Yet was East Timor truly the last scraping of the bottom of the colonial barrel? There are various types of dependencies scattered across the oceans of the world, many of them islands, still subject to European metropoles. The quest for sovereignty, as the only acceptable path to self-determination, does not seem to be the burning issue in these few remaining territories. Many are content to maintain the security of metropolitan relationships into the distant future.peer-reviewe

Micro-states in the international system: The challenge of sovereignty.

The last forty years have witnessed a proliferation of very small states, or micro-states with populations of approximately one million or less. Most of these states are developing economies but in recent years even the smallest European micro-states have won acceptance in the councils of the organised international system. This study is a comprehensive examination of the international relations of these states in three principal areas of concern: issues of status and legitimacy; the conduct of diplomacy and the efforts of micro-states to achieve strategies of self-reliant economic development. While the research has confirmed the vulnerabilities of micro-states in all three areas which have been stressed in the literature of the last decade, it also reveals surprising opportunities for some micro-states to ameliorate their weaknesses and to achieve a constructive engagements within the international system. The international milieu and the many support systems at both the regional and global level have actually reinforced the sovereignty of micro-states while providing them with added resources to exploit the opportunities which an increasingly integrated global economy offers. Unlike earlier studies in the field, this dissertation treats the experience of micro-states within the broad context of post-1945 history and thus provides an overall perspective for assessing the impact of very small size over 50 years. It also represents a departure from the existing literature in its determination to include both the developed micro-states in Europe and the more commonly studied micro-states in the developing world. Finally, much of the analysis compares the experiences of micro-states with those of forty larger small states in the next population class, an approach which has not been undertaken elsewhere. The impact of this comparison further confirms the general findings of the dissertation that the international system of the mid to late 1990s has evolved into a largely supportive milieu for micro-states in spite of the serious and occasionally dangerous problems which they continue to face

Between De Jure and De Facto Statehood: Revisiting the Status of Taiwan

This paper revisits the status prospects for Taiwan in light of recent events in Kosovo and Tibet. In both cases, and certainly in Taiwan itself, the long standing contest between claims for self determination and the tenacious defence of the principle of the territorial integrity of states has emerged once again to dominate the analysis of these cases. This contest is particularly dramatic in the divided international response to the independence of Kosovo. In the case of Tibet, widespread international support for Tibet is in sharp contrast to the furious and determined resistance of China. Taiwan’s anomalous status remains that of a legal sovereign state, the Republic of China, enjoying some measure of recognition and formal diplomacy and a de facto state whose international relations are confined to paradiplomatic channels, extensive though they are. The paper considers the prospects for changes in the current anomalous status of the island state

From the wings to the footlights

The smallest of Europe's microstates have experienced a unique, lengthy and incremental passage to sovereignty and their full participation in the organised relations of the international system. This contribution focuses on the long struggle of these states to achieve state equality and allowing their inclusion as equal members in interstate organisations and as legitimate holders of the full rights of legation. Important in this narrative is the incremental strategies of the microstates themselves, the waning interest in further exclusion by the international community, and the pressure and interventions exerted by neighbours, particularly the Council of Europe. The conclusion offers a comparative assessment of the smallest states in the developing world in a similar population class which never faced questions of legitimacy undermining their status and inclusion but which are extremely hard pressed economically in comparison to their wealthy European counterparts