- University of Prince Edward Island, Island Studies, Department Memberadd
- Local Government and Local Development, Network governance, Island Studies, Political Science, Tourism Studies, Cultural Heritage, and 27 moreLocal Economic Development, Orkney and Shetland studies, Jurisdictional Capacity, Subnational Island Jurisdictions, Nationalism, Development Economics, Identity (Culture), Economic Development, Spatial planning, Coastal Tourism, Place Branding (Economics), Depopulation, Governance, Cultural Geography, Community Engagement & Participation, Heritage Studies, Romanticism, New Models Of Participatory And Direct Democracy, Heritage Tourism, Social Sciences, Cultural Studies, Geography, Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Urban Design, Arctic Social Science, and Greenlandedit
This paper asks how researchers can fruitfully and respectfully approach traditions of the sacred. It centres on the author's efforts to use autoethnography to interact with the Chinese sea goddess Mazu at Nansha Tianhou Temple in... more
This paper asks how researchers can fruitfully and respectfully approach traditions of the sacred. It centres on the author's efforts to use autoethnography to interact with the Chinese sea goddess Mazu at Nansha Tianhou Temple in Guangzhou, China. Combining methods and concepts from folklore and human geography, the paper takes an experience-centred and relational approach to religion, belief, and the supernatural while understanding the sacred in terms of excess. The paper argues that reflexive, autoethnographic openness to experiences with the sacred can help researchers understand how people are influenced by the sacred and how this influence is productive of culture, society, and place. Through the autoethnographic study at the heart of this paper, the author experiences Mazu (who transcends folklore, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism) as a complex and multifaceted figure, combining a young woman, a tutelary deity, and the imperial Tianhou (Queen of Heaven). The author's interactions with Mazu prompt thoughts about home and belonging, highlighting subjectivity and divine agency in the experience of the sacred.
Research Interests: Buddhism, Folklore, Vernacular Religion, China, Beliefs, and 4 moreChina studies, Religious Studies, Taoism, and Islands
Islands are associated with both high levels of autonomous status and sovereign status on the one hand and the creation of exceptional spaces on the other, both linked with the development of distinctive island cultures. This article... more
Islands are associated with both high levels of autonomous status and sovereign status on the one hand and the creation of exceptional spaces on the other, both linked with the development of distinctive island cultures. This article argues that there is a tension between these tendencies, as is illustrated by the case of Jeju Island, South Korea. Jeju is a self-governing province and subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ). Its autonomy is rooted in contested understandings of Jeju natives as an Indigenous people, distinct from the people of the Korean Peninsula. In practice, however, Jeju's autonomy is used as a tool for containing a special economic zone (SEZ) aimed at attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to South Korea as a whole. By taking an island studies approach, this paper shows how Jeju's ostensible Indigenous autonomy has been compromised by the island's use as an exceptional space crafted in conscious relation to the mainland. Key governance mechanisms on Jeju do not prioritise Indigenous rights. Studies of island political and economic development require careful analysis of how diverse political and economic processes are influenced by islandness itself.
Research Interests: Tourism Studies, Indigenous Studies, Development Studies, Island Studies, Korean Studies, and 12 moreSouth Korea, Sustainable Development, Indigenous Politics, Colonialism, Autonomy, Land-use planning, Decolonial Thought, Special Economic Zones, Regional Autonomy, Islands, Land Value Capture, and Jeju Island
As greater attention has been paid to island research in China, interactions between Chinese and international island scholars have increased. However, research has tended to take an 'islands of China' approach, which perceives China as a... more
As greater attention has been paid to island research in China, interactions between Chinese and international island scholars have increased. However, research has tended to take an 'islands of China' approach, which perceives China as a continental country surrounded by a large number of islands. The present paper proposes an alternative 'island China' perspective, informed by selected Chinese traditions of thinking about islands and the sea, that captures the role islands have played and continue to play in Chinese culture. Drawing upon Fei Xiaotong's reflexive concept of 'cultural self-consciousness', we consider the cultural history of island China, including conceptual tensions between the binaries of continent/island and center/periphery, conceptions of land dwellers and water dwellers, the role of islands as hubs of cultural transmission, and the formation of maritime societies across East and Southeast Asia. We also argue that this cultural history ought to influence island governance in China today.
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Despite considerable research into special economic zones (SEZs) and Island Studies, islands and SEZs are rarely considered together. Islands and SEZs are, however, closely associated, in part due to the attractiveness of island... more
Despite considerable research into special economic zones (SEZs) and Island Studies, islands and SEZs are rarely considered together. Islands and SEZs are, however, closely associated, in part due to the attractiveness of island characteristics (remoteness, boundedness, isolation) for exclusive economic processes. Many prominent SEZs are located on small islands, and many island economies function similarly to SEZs. Defining SEZs as ‘bounded spaces of economic and regulatory exception’, this paper considers deregulated industrial zones and exclusively branded smart cities and eco-cities, as well as island SEZs designed for external benefit and for local benefit. The study shows that spatial processes of containment and exclusion are supported by islands and are especially useful for crafting SEZs, which may specialise in industries such as financial services, manufacturing, gaming, port services and high-end tourism. Nevertheless, SEZ processes often create negative social, economic and environmental impacts. Island SEZs developed for external interest often seek to contain harm within islands or to exclude unfavourable factors, resulting in a spatial mismatch of harms and benefits. Island SEZs developed for local interest struggle to externalise harms, creating problems for island populations. The paper argues for the value of understanding islands and SEZs together, without exceptionalising them.
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This editorial conclusion looks back on how Island Studies Journal has developed from its start in 2006, up through the beginning of the current editorship in 2017, and through to the start of a new editorship in mid-2023. Island studies... more
This editorial conclusion looks back on how Island Studies Journal has developed from its start in 2006, up through the beginning of the current editorship in 2017, and through to the start of a new editorship in mid-2023. Island studies has transformed from being a close-knit community centred on a few key scholars to being a field composed of numerous loosely connected movements. There is no longer a clearly identifiable 'mainstream' island studies and no longer a canon of crucial island studies researchers. Island studies journals and scholars are now coming from and writing from a great diversity of locations and positions. The plurality of island studies means there is room in the field for everyone.
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This paper discusses tensions in journal editing and management, particularly for non-fee charging open access (diamond open access) journals. Even diamond open access journals and other journals published on a non-commercial basis are... more
This paper discusses tensions in journal editing and management, particularly for non-fee charging open access (diamond open access) journals. Even diamond open access journals and other journals published on a non-commercial basis are subject to financial and labour costs. Because diamond open access journals do not gain income from subscriptions or article processing charges (APCs), every published paper presents additional costs. Whereas commercially published journals depend upon substantial free academic labour, unfunded or underfunded diamond open access journals depend upon both substantial free academic labour and free non-academic labour. This encourages editors to be selective about the kinds of submissions on which they spend their time. The importance of maintaining a journal's prestige, as measured through inclusion in bibliometric indices, incentivises further selectivity. Different kinds of papers are suitable for different kinds of journals. Even publications like Island Studies Journal that are radically accessible to authors and readers in diverse financial circumstances must make difficult choices when deciding what material to publish.
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Calls to decolonise academia are increasing, yet progress has been halting, including in academic publishing. This paper considers publishing practices and outcomes in Island Studies Journal (a diamond open access, multidisciplinary,... more
Calls to decolonise academia are increasing, yet progress has been halting, including in academic publishing. This paper considers publishing practices and outcomes in Island Studies Journal (a diamond open access, multidisciplinary, high-ranked journal), which has taken an explicitly decolonial editorial direction in recent years. We undertake a crosstabulation analysis of the 175 articles published in Island Studies Journal between January 2017 and October 2022, attending to characteristics of authors, articles, regions, branches of science, and impact. We find that coloniality and the West/non-West divide remain prevalent in the journal, with differences in the kinds of research scholars from different regions can get published and the kinds of impact their articles make. Western scholarly norms are reproduced and enforced even in a journal that seeks to support antiracism and decolonization. We discuss the editorial tensions involved in seeking to simultaneously increase opportunities for individual intersectionally marginalized scholars while challenging colonial power structures.
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The Pearl River Delta in South China is today associated with one of the world's largest megaregions. Even though scholarship often treats the Pearl River Delta as a natural region and unit for analysis, this area has only recently been... more
The Pearl River Delta in South China is today associated with one of the world's largest megaregions. Even though scholarship often treats the Pearl River Delta as a natural region and unit for analysis, this area has only recently been regionalised. This paper undertakes a critical rewriting and remapping of the Pearl River Delta's history, starting in precolonial times in which the Chinese population saw the area as composed of islands and waterways, moving through the period when colonial powers saw the area as a pathway up from the colonial island enclaves of Hong Kong and Macao and into China's interior, and ending in the Reform and Opening Up era when the modern Chinese state has implemented a succession of planning-oriented conceptions of the region. As the area has moved conceptually from a world of islands to a delta and now to the Greater Bay Area, perceptions about what the area means have changed as well. From a position in urban island studies and critical reflexivity, this paper troubles taken-for-granted colonial, technocratic, and governmental visions and regionalisations, focusing on how physical and cultural geographies develop in tandem. The notion of the interstitial island is used to help understand how the Pearl River Delta's island geography has influenced the area's conceptual development.
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Although the field of island studies has from the start regarded itself as a defender of islands and islander interests, it is entangled in coloniality. This editorial focuses on issues of power, knowledge, and position. Who wields power... more
Although the field of island studies has from the start regarded itself as a defender of islands and islander interests, it is entangled in coloniality. This editorial focuses on issues of power, knowledge, and position. Who wields power in island studies? Who knows about islands? Where is island studies located, and how does it position itself? The paper discusses problems such as tokenism and forced inclusions, denial and circumscription of expertise, and onto-epistemological discrimination and hegemony within island studies. Ultimately, the paper advances the need for critical reflexivity and decolonial methodology within island studies, for pluralistic approaches to inclusivity and recognition of epistemic differences.
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Greenland is a strongly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) within the Kingdom of Denmark. This paper takes its point of departure in studies of politics in small island territories to ask to what extent Greenland matches... more
Greenland is a strongly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) within the Kingdom of Denmark. This paper takes its point of departure in studies of politics in small island territories to ask to what extent Greenland matches findings from other small island states and SNIJs in terms of personalisation of politics, party performance, and political cleavages that do not follow left-right divides. Even though Greenland possesses a strongly multiparty system, supported by elections involving party-list proportional representation within a single multimember constituency, a single political party, Siumut, has led the government for all but a brief period since the advent of Greenlandic autonomy in 1979. By considering Greenland's political ecosystem, spatially and personally conditioned aspects of voter behaviour, and coalition-building processes, paying particular attention to the 24 April 2018 parliamentary elections, we argue that it is inappropriate to study Greenland as a monolithic political unit or to draw oversimplified analogies with party politics from large state Western liberal democracies. Instead, Greenlandic politics must be understood in relation to the island territory's particular historical, geographical, and societal characteristics as well as its electoral system.
Research Interests: Comparative Politics, Island Studies, Politics, Democracy, Elections, and 9 moreSmall States, Small Island Developing States, Greenland, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Islands, Proportional Representation, Electoral politics, Subnational Island Jurisdictions, and Political Parties and Party Politics
Islands and archipelagos are exceptionally dependent on the nature of their transport infrastructure, with cross-sea transport links being of fundamental importance for mobility. Traditionally, the island geography research literature has... more
Islands and archipelagos are exceptionally dependent on the nature of their transport infrastructure, with cross-sea transport links being of fundamental importance for mobility. Traditionally, the island geography research literature has engaged in a binary and oppositional understanding of the relationship between xed links such as bridges and tunnels on the one hand and waterborne transport such as ferries on the other. The present paper uses the case of Zhoushan Archipelago (Zhejiang Province, China) to challenge this perception of xed links and waterborne transport as inherently con ictual by showing how these distinct modes of cross-sea transport have complemented one another and fundamentally altered archipelagic mobilities. We show that even transformative transport infrastructures do not necessarily simply replace existing infrastructures but may instead add to the complexity of the local transport network. In Zhoushan Archipelago, a vast network of new and future inter-island and island-mainland road and rail bridges and tunnels are altering local industry and society as well as the relationship between the archipelago and the mainland, yet ferries remain important for transport between islands and between certain islands and the mainland. We argue that it is fruitful to consider the potential complementarity of different kinds of cross-sea transport links.
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Island peoples around the world remain entangled in colonial processes. Western and metropolitan powers are increasingly deploying discourse of a 'China threat' to justify neocolonial entrenchment in the form of greater Western... more
Island peoples around the world remain entangled in colonial processes. Western and metropolitan powers are increasingly deploying discourse of a 'China threat' to justify neocolonial entrenchment in the form of greater Western militarisation and economic dominance. In this paper, we investigate how Western and metropolitan powers use the China threat and warnings of economic, environmental, demographic, and military disaster to maintain and deepen colonial influence in former colonies, with special focus on four island states and territories: Guåhan/Guam in Oceania, Kalaallit Nunaat/Greenland in the Arctic, Okinawa in East Asia, and Jamaica in the Caribbean. We undertake this investigation as a means of practicing decolonial political geography, collaborating as a group of scholars from around the world and drawing upon diverse epistemologies and experiences to inform collaborative research and writing. Due to the complexities we have confronted in our efforts to think outside coloniality, this paper foregrounds our decolonial methodology and process, even as we respect our empirical findings.
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This paper analyses the ancient Maritime Silk Road through a relational island studies approach. Island ports and island cities represented key sites of water-facilitated transport and exchange in the ancient Indian Ocean and South China... more
This paper analyses the ancient Maritime Silk Road through a relational island studies approach. Island ports and island cities represented key sites of water-facilitated transport and exchange in the ancient Indian Ocean and South China Sea. Building our analysis upon a historical overview of the ancient Maritime Silk Road from the perspective of China's Guangdong Province and the city of Guangzhou, we envision a millennia-long 'Silk Road Archipelago' encompassing island cities and island territories stretching across East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa. Bearing in mind the complex movements of peoples, places, and processes involved, we conceptualise the ancient Maritime Silk Road as an uncentred network of archipelagic relation. This conceptualisation of the ancient Maritime Silk Road as a vast archipelago can have relevance for our understanding of China's present-day promotion of a 21 st-Century Maritime Silk Road as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. We ultimately argue against forcing the Maritime Silk Road concept within a binary perspective of essentialised East-West conflict or hierarchical relations and instead argue for the value of a nuanced understanding of relationality.
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The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a project conceptualized and developed by the Chinese state, aims to enhance international cooperation, address issues of shared regional and global concern, and create opportunities for foreign direct... more
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a project conceptualized and developed by the Chinese state, aims to enhance international cooperation, address issues of shared regional and global concern, and create opportunities for foreign direct investment in struggling economies. The BRI can be seen as a system for supplying global public goods, including sustainable development within which issues related to climate change sit. A great many small island states and territories are participating in the BRI, particularly in its constituent 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. However, the BRI has not yet placed sufficient focus on climate change adaptation or issues specific to small islands. Furthermore, the BRI's conceptual basis in rhetoric of mutual dependence and a community of common destiny have not always been evident in the individual activities that have been carried out within the BRI. If the BRI's goals are to be taken seriously, it must do more to focus on the needs and perspectives of island communities, particularly with regard to climate change adaptation. This paper presents a framework for action to strengthen the BRI's approach to islands and climate change adaptation in terms of information sharing, scientific and technological cooperation, financial support, and capacity building within a global governance framework.
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The concept behind the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI; formerly 'One Belt, One Road') began to take shape in 2013. Since then, this Chinese-led project has become a major plank in China's foreign relations. The BRI has grown from its basis... more
The concept behind the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI; formerly 'One Belt, One Road') began to take shape in 2013. Since then, this Chinese-led project has become a major plank in China's foreign relations. The BRI has grown from its basis as a vision of interregional connectivity into a truly global system, encompassing places-including many island states, territories, and cities-from the South Pacific to the Arctic, from East Africa to the Caribbean, from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Islands and archipelagos are particularly prominent in the BRI's constituent 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) and Polar Silk Road or Ice Silk Road projects, but little scholarly attention has been paid to how the BRI relates to islands per se. This special section of Island Studies Journal includes nine papers on islands and the BRI, concerning such diverse topics as geopolitics, international law and territorial disputes, sustainability and climate change adaptation, international relations of autonomous island territories, development of outer island communities, tourism and trade, and relational understandings of archipelagic networks. Taken together, these papers present both opportunities and risks, challenges and ways forward for the BRI and how this project may impact both China and island and archipelago states and territories.
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This paper considers the cases of urban redevelopment at waterfront and brownfield sites in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Hamburg (Germany) to explore how two municipal governments have pursued divergent kinds of entrepreneurial governance,... more
This paper considers the cases of urban redevelopment at waterfront and brownfield sites in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Hamburg (Germany) to explore how two municipal governments have pursued divergent kinds of entrepreneurial governance, even as they have aimed to create similar kinds of new-build neighbourhoods. Copenhagen and Hamburg have both engaged in large-scale speculative development projects, simultaneously raising urban land values and adding urban public good. The cities follow a long tradition of using land value capture to raise funds for municipal activities , yet their scopes of action and tools for achieving progress have been shaped by local economic and political conditions. Although both cities began redevelopment at similar kinds of sites in the 1990s, Copenhagen's municipal government was relatively impoverished, while Hamburg's municipal government was relatively wealthy. As a result, even though both cities deployed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and revolving funds models to reinvest revenues in future development, they possessed different potential strategies for increasing intercity competitiveness: Copenhagen's immediate aim in redeveloping its Ørestad and harbour districts was to fund a citywide mass transit system and thereby enhance competitiveness through infrastructure development, while Hamburg sought to use its HafenCity waterfront redevelopment to boost competitiveness through port mod-ernisation, increased in urban quality and commercial expansion in the city centre. By comparing these two cases, we can better understand the contingent nature of entrepreneurial governance and urban redevelopment processes.
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It is frequently noted that small islands, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS), receive hugely disproportionate levels of aid or official development assistance (ODA) relative to other states and territories. However, the... more
It is frequently noted that small islands, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS), receive hugely disproportionate levels of aid or official development assistance (ODA) relative to other states and territories. However, the precise relationship between 'islandness' and aid remains underexamined. This paper uses the concept of 'conspicuous sustainability' as a framework for understanding the propensity for aid to be directed toward small island territories. We argue (1) that aid donors have reasons for preferring engagement in development projects that are particularly conspicuous, irrespective of actual development outcomes and (2) that small island territories are exceptionally well-placed to produce such conspicuousness. We use the case of the construction of the 'climate-resilient' Dominica label following Hurricane Maria in 2017 to illustrate how both aid donors and recipients can be motivated to pursue short-term projects aimed at currently fashionable areas in the field of development (such as climate change resilience) instead of addressing areas with greater potential to foster lasting improvements and built local capacity. We ultimately recommend a greater awareness of the false economies of conspicuous ODA and aid.
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Amidst the debate concerning how to interpret the emergence of new forms of urbanism in today's world, little attention has been given to urban interstices-the inter-urban boundary areas and interface zones that facilitate exchange... more
Amidst the debate concerning how to interpret the emergence of new forms of urbanism in today's world, little attention has been given to urban interstices-the inter-urban boundary areas and interface zones that facilitate exchange between and within vast urban systems. The present paper considers how place is made and developed at these interstices, which frequently provide essential urban functions but are also frequently regarded as rural. We explore this topic through the case of Zhoushan Archipelago (Zhejiang Province, China), an interface zone both between cities within the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and between the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and other megaregions. Like many islands, Zhoushan Archipelago has long been conceptualised as peripheral to the urban yet has simultaneously performed vital urban functions. The paper uses this case to shed light on what interstitiality (in-betweenness) means in today's urbanism, both for the people living 'in-between' and for the wider urban system.
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Denmark’s private non-profit housing (almene boliger) sector provides affordable housing and social housing and is capable of being self-governing and self-financing. We examine the private non-profit housing sector’s governance and... more
Denmark’s private non-profit housing (almene boliger) sector provides affordable housing and social housing and is capable of being self-governing and self-financing. We examine the private non-profit housing sector’s governance and financing model and assess the extent to which its institutional framework and revolving funds model allow it to serve as a role model for the development of affordable housing in other countries and cities. The paper concludes that while Denmark’s private non-profit housing system has succeeded in providing affordable housing with relatively low levels of public financing, its exposure to state intervention risks weakening its governance and financial power.
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Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) is an Arctic highly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) of Denmark, its former coloniser. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020 has influenced both Kalaallit Nunaat's relations with the... more
Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) is an Arctic highly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) of Denmark, its former coloniser. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020 has influenced both Kalaallit Nunaat's relations with the outside world and relations between people and places within the territory. The Kalaallit Nunaat government's response to the pandemic, including both internal and external travel bans and restrictions on movement, has focused on eradicating the disease from the territory. This strategy, however, is challenged both by the SNIJ's economic reliance on Denmark and by the Danish government's own strategy of mitigating the disease. This paper explores the ways in which the coronavirus pandemic has altered how the people of Kalaallit Nunaat interact with the people of Denmark and with one another, ultimately shedding light on the relationship between islands, disease, and geopolitics more generally.
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Economic challenges are often invoked in discussions of island sovereignty and non-sovereignty. This paper explores the perceived link between a subnational island jurisdiction's ability to achieve economic independence and its ability to... more
Economic challenges are often invoked in discussions of island sovereignty and non-sovereignty. This paper explores the perceived link between a subnational island jurisdiction's ability to achieve economic independence and its ability to achieve political independence. In the popular and political discourse, it is frequently argued that island territories-sovereign island states and subnational island jurisdictions (SNIJs)-ought to reduce their economic dependence on patron states. Such ideas are often entangled in colonial relationships, and the scholarship suggests no correlation between economic independence and political sovereignty. I use the case of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) to illustrate the conceptual complexity and ambiguity of economic dependence and economic independence. Media and political discourses emphasise that because Kalaallit Nunaat is economically dependent on its former coloniser Denmark, this SNIJ is incapable of exercising its autonomy or becoming a sovereign state, yet these discourses simultaneously argue that Kalaallit Nunaat should not create economic dependencies on other states, such as China and the USA. This discursive construction ignores the real power dynamics at play in the relationships between Kalaallit Nunaat, Denmark, and other states. I argue that the concepts of economic independence and economic dependence are unsuitable as indicators of readiness or unreadiness for island political independence.
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This special section seeks to identify what it is that makes islands special as well as to critique the limitations of generalised conceptions of islandness. In recent years, the field of island studies has drawn on critical trends in... more
This special section seeks to identify what it is that makes islands special as well as to critique the limitations of generalised conceptions of islandness. In recent years, the field of island studies has drawn on critical trends in geography, being particularly influenced by the “relational turn,” the “decolonial turn,” and theories of the Anthropocene. The papers in this special section focus on the themes of vulnerability and resilience, indigeneity, spatial transformation, democracy and
governance, urbanisation and transport, enclavisation and eco‐cultural tourism, mobility and connective infrastructures, and Anthropocene relationality to explore new horizons in island geography research.
governance, urbanisation and transport, enclavisation and eco‐cultural tourism, mobility and connective infrastructures, and Anthropocene relationality to explore new horizons in island geography research.
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Svalbard, the northernmost territory in the world, holds a special place in international relations.
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Overviews of political environment in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland).
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Many island cities have vulnerable ecosystems, yet island ecosystems also present special challenges for research. Ecological footprint analysis is an effective method of evaluating the ability of island cities to engage in regional... more
Many island cities have vulnerable ecosystems, yet island ecosystems also present special challenges for research. Ecological footprint analysis is an effective method of evaluating the ability of island cities to engage in regional ecological sustainable development. This study uses ecological footprint analysis combined with the ArcGIS platform to evaluate the ecological security of 14 neighborhoods on Zhoushan Island (Zhejiang Province, China) in 2010, 2013, and 2015. The partial least squares regression model is used to explore factors affecting spatial and temporal differences in ecological security in the island’s neighborhoods and to help optimize the island’s ecological sustainable development. Results reveal that Zhoushan Island’s per capita ecological footprint decreased from 7.355 hm2 in 2010 to 4.662 hm2 in 2015, yet throughout the study period, the per capita ecological footprint remained higher than the per capita ecological carrying capacity in all neighborhoods. Although the island’s ecological security has gradually improved, there continue to be large ecological deficits and ecological pressure. To improve the island city’s ecological security, we should optimize the mode of urban development, develop renewable energy sources, protect ecologically valuable land, improve the scale and quality of urban zones and transportation infrastructure, and improve residents’ industrial and consumption structures.
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Economic challenges are often invoked in discussions of island sovereignty and non-sovereignty. This paper explores the perceived link between a subnational island jurisdiction's ability to achieve economic independence and its ability to... more
Economic challenges are often invoked in discussions of island sovereignty and non-sovereignty. This paper explores the perceived link between a subnational island jurisdiction's ability to achieve economic independence and its ability to achieve political independence. In the popular and political discourse, it is frequently argued that island territories-sovereign island states and subnational island jurisdictions (SNIJs)-ought to reduce their economic dependence on patron states. Such ideas are often entangled in colonial relationships, and the scholarship suggests no correlation between economic independence and political sovereignty. I use the case of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) to illustrate the conceptual complexity and ambiguity of economic dependence and economic independence. Media and political discourses emphasise that because Kalaallit Nunaat is economically dependent on its former coloniser Denmark, this SNIJ is incapable of exercising its autonomy or becoming a sovereign state, yet these discourses simultaneously argue that Kalaallit Nunaat should not create economic dependencies on other states, such as China and the USA. This discursive construction ignores the real power dynamics at play in the relationships between Kalaallit Nunaat, Denmark, and other states. I argue that the concepts of economic independence and economic dependence are unsuitable as indicators of readiness or unreadiness for island political independence.
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Islands may be defined by a particular relationship between land and water, but discussions of island development often focus on either land-based activities or on sea-based activities, with little attention to how the terrestrial and... more
Islands may be defined by a particular relationship between land and water, but discussions of island development often focus on either land-based activities or on sea-based activities, with little attention to how the terrestrial and marine realms interact. This chapter argues that islands possess a number of spatial characteristics related to coast/area ratios, land scarcity, comprehensive coastlines, transport benefits, and territorial benefits that serve as drivers for the marine economy and that boost marine island economy competitiveness. Today’s marine economy is, however, dependent upon onshore infrastructure; labour; expertise; and healthy and stable ecological, social, and political environments, none of which can simply be taken for granted. The very factors that make islands ideal for hosting marine activities—such as an extensive land-sea interface and density-facilitated agglomeration economies—may be placed at risk by marine economy-oriented island development. It is thus that economic activities on the land-sea interface — whether port services or coastal tourism — can reduce islanders’ access to the sea as well as lead to environmental degradation that threatens the continued viability of the economic activities in question. Those pursuing island development should take care to balance short-term and long-term objectives while leveraging the very real competitive advantages that arise from island spatialities.
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Islands are often associated with distinct cultures. Although the island polities that formed during the withdrawal of empire frequently brought together various ethnicities, Indigenous governance and claims to cultural distinction have... more
Islands are often associated with distinct cultures. Although the island polities that formed during the withdrawal of empire frequently brought together various ethnicities, Indigenous governance and claims to cultural distinction have often remained an ideal for such islands and archipelagos. This paper examines the complex causality behind associations between indigeneity and islandness, discussing how island spatiality fosters: (1) cultural distinction, (2) connections between people and place, and (3) Indigenous territory. We argue that islands are exceptionally fruitful spaces for developing and maintaining distinct ethnicities, due not just to material effects of island geography but also in the manner in which both islanders and mainlanders conceptualise islands as “legible geographies.” Islands can thereby become quintessential spaces for containing Indigenous Peoples, simultaneously sustaining cultural difference while limiting the scope for Indigenous self‐determination. Drawing on cases from the Arctic, East Asia, Oceania and the Caribbean, we highlight the benefits that island spatiality can offer to Indigenous communities as well as the dangerous manner in which island spatiality can encourage essentialisations of Indigenous Peoples and circumscriptions of Indigenous spaces. This paper positions itself as an effort in decolonial island studies.
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Islands are often associated with isolation, peripherality and disconnectedness, and fixed links such as bridges and causeways are often regarded as factors that decrease the quality of islandness. The present paper sheds light on the... more
Islands are often associated with isolation, peripherality and disconnectedness, and fixed links such as bridges and causeways are often regarded as factors that decrease the quality of islandness. The present paper sheds light on the complexity of island and archipelago connectivities by considering the transport infrastructure and relationships between, within and among the numerous islands of Venice Lagoon, Italy. The paper argues that island communities face diverse sets of challenges, and there is no one right connectivity‐enhancing solution that is applicable to all islands.
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Despite considerable research within the field of island studies, no consensus has yet been reached as to what it is that makes islands special. Around the world, islands and archipelagos are shaped by diverse spatialities and... more
Despite considerable research within the field of island studies, no consensus has yet been reached as to what it is that makes islands special. Around the world, islands and archipelagos are shaped by diverse spatialities and relationalities that make it difficult to identify clear general characteristics of islandness. This paper argues that one such 'active ingredient' of islandness, which is present across many forms of island spatiality, is the idea that islands are 'legible geographies': spaces of heightened conceptualisability, spaces that are exceptionally easy to imagine as places. The paper uses the case of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) to show how island geographical legibility has influenced a territory's cultural and political development over time, even though Kalaallit Nunaat is such a large island that it can never be experienced as an island but can only be perceived as an island from a satellite or cartographic perspective. I ultimately argue that islandness can have significant effects on a place's development but that it can be difficult to isolate these effects from other factors that may themselves have been influenced by islandness.
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Assessments of both legitimate governmental activity and responsible economic policy tend to be dominated by conceptions developed at the scale of the large state. Nevertheless, large state perspectives on appropriate levels of public... more
Assessments of both legitimate governmental activity and responsible economic policy tend to be dominated by conceptions developed at the scale of the large state. Nevertheless, large state perspectives on appropriate levels of public spending relative to economic size and appropriate forms of economic activity do not always match the reality of governance and economics in micropolities (including both very small sovereign states and highly autonomous subnational jurisdictions). This paper considers the case of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), a subnational island jurisdiction of Denmark, to explore how the needs of micropolities are not served by understandings of governance and economics scaled to the large state. Focus is placed on Kalaallit Nunaat's accrual of rents, government spending, and infrastructure development. Although Kalaallit Nunaat is, like many other micropolities, economically dependent on rents, it has been subjected to large state economic understandings that are often tied up in neocolonial processes and lead to the privileging of metropolitan expertise and development trajectories. Micropolities like Kalaallit Nunaat are better served by policy approaches that take into account the realities of small scale governance and economics, even if these fly in the face of large state experiences and expectations.
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This editorial introduction delves into problematic aspects of positionality and publishing ethics related to island and Indigenous issues. Taking its point of departure in Gilley's paper on 'The case for colonialism' and Pöllath's paper... more
This editorial introduction delves into problematic aspects of positionality and publishing ethics related to island and Indigenous issues. Taking its point of departure in Gilley's paper on 'The case for colonialism' and Pöllath's paper 'Revisiting island decolonization', the present paper questions: Whose voices should we listen to when considering island and Indigenous issues? If some voices should be excluded from the debate, how should we determine which voices are excluded? Ultimately, the paper criticizes exclusionary approaches and argues that Island Studies Journal should be open to publishing articles from metropolitan and outsider perspectives as well as from islander and Indigenous perspectives―but that it is necessary for authors and readers to be aware of their own positions within the colonial matrix of power.
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The paper considers Lieyu island from a relational geography perspective, relative to the islands of Kinmen, Xiamen, and Taiwan. Lieyu retains its natural landscape and military heritage in part due to its remote location and military... more
The paper considers Lieyu island from a relational geography perspective, relative to the islands of Kinmen, Xiamen, and Taiwan. Lieyu retains its natural landscape and military heritage in part due to its remote location and military restrictions relative to nearby Kinmen Island. Local politicians harness Lieyu's archipelagic relationality and sense of underdevelopment relative to other islands in its archipelago to gain financial subsidies for infrastructure development. Such infrastructure projects (including fixed links) endanger Lieyu's sense of islandness and island place. We introduce the term 'compensatory destruction', which involves destroying existing place-based values or attributes in the process of implementing new values in the name of development. Although compensatory destruction is not necessarily bad, care must be taken to ensure that development projects serve the needs of the community as a whole and are adequately assessed and evaluated.
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The island city of Macau, part of the Pearl River Delta megacity region in China, has undergone significant urban fragmentation. This urban fragmentation occasions transport problems and environmental inequalities as well as conditions... more
The island city of Macau, part of the Pearl River Delta megacity region in China, has undergone significant urban fragmentation. This urban fragmentation occasions transport problems and environmental inequalities as well as conditions the city's future development. The paper shows how land scarcity associated with island spatiality encourages dense and incremental urban expansion, facilitated by coastal land reclamation, which causes spatiotemporal urban fragmentation. The Macau Peninsula, formerly a hilly island, has expanded and become increasingly connected to the mainland over the centuries. Macau is facing critical challenges regarding traffic congestion, environmental pollution, and lack of space for housing and other urban functions. As Macau becomes increasingly integrated into the Pearl River Delta megacity region, particularly through the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, Macau's urban planning strategy seeks to use land reclamation to create new urban zones. This may produce new urban space for the island city's social and economic development, yet also risks further urban fragmentation. This paper argues that spatially and historically sensitive geographical understandings of island city development and urban morphology are necessary if we are to understand Chinese urbanisation and coastal cities.
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Various countries provide legal protections and preferential policies to Indigenous peoples, ethnic minority groups, and minority nationality communities. Such communities tend to be territorialized, with conceptions of indigeneity rooted... more
Various countries provide legal protections and preferential policies to Indigenous peoples, ethnic minority groups, and minority nationality communities. Such communities tend to be territorialized, with conceptions of indigeneity rooted in a specific Indigenous territory, homeland, or locality. This territorialization is problematic because it supports state strategies to frame Indigenous peoples as objects of development and creates a false choice between maginalization and culture loss. We use the case of the Indigenous Dan fishing community of Sanya City, Hainan, China to explore how the territorialization of indigeneity can furthermore complicate efforts to protect Indigenous communities that have never been associated with any particular territory. The Dan’s maritime lifestyle has contributed to them not being regarded as one of China’s official and protected minority nationalities. The Dan of Sanya City face severe livelihood and cost of living challenges during a major urban renewal process occasioned by Sanya City’s development policy. This has left the Dan with neither state protection nor opportunities to assimilate into or adapt to the majority society. We call for a radical deterritorialization of concepts of indigeneity both to empower Indigenous groups that cannot be easily territorialized and to help prevent Indigenous peoples in general from becoming objects of assimilationist development policy.
Research Interests: Political Geography and Geopolitics, Indigenous Studies, Indigeneity, Minority Studies, China, and 13 moreEthnic minorities, Indigenous Peoples, Urbanization, Territoriality, Livelihood, Urban Renewal, Fishing, Territory, Fishing Communities, Islands, Marginalization, National Minority, and Hainan Island
Island studies has developed into an established, interdisciplinary research field. It is important that island studies not only continue deepening its internal theoretical understandings but also reach out to other fields and regions... more
Island studies has developed into an established, interdisciplinary research field. It is important that island studies not only continue deepening its internal theoretical understandings but also reach out to other fields and regions that have received limited attention within island studies. It is also necessary for island studies to grapple with a number of problematic tendencies within the field and the wider scholarship, including by challenging the misuse of island spatiality to produce idealised visions of islands (for example in island sustainability research). Similarly, it is important to pursue a decolonial island studies that rethinks the ways in which island development research can end up marginalising Indigenous voices at the same time as it seeks to understand islands 'on their own terms'. Island studies, many say, is an emerging field. We live in an age that valorises dynamism and change, so it flatters our sensibilities to participate in a scholarly project that is not fixed, fusty, or static. If island studies is emerging, then we who contribute to it are at the vanguard, engaging in a new way of doing research. But this mantra of 'emergence', 'burgeoning', 'growth', 'institutionalisation' is also an apology―repeated across a range of important literature reviews and theoretical texts (e.g.,
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This paper explores conceptions of islands in Ancient and Imperial China. From at least the 3rd Century BCE, mainland Chinese culture regarded islands as sacred, unapproachable fairylands, home to the elixir of immortality. This inspired... more
This paper explores conceptions of islands in Ancient and Imperial China. From at least the 3rd Century BCE, mainland Chinese culture regarded islands as sacred, unapproachable fairylands, home to the elixir of immortality. This inspired a trend for voyages in search of mythological sacred islands as well as a landscape architecture trend for constructing artificial islands in imperial palace gardens. Over time, Taoism came to associate islands with the home of the gods, and Chinese Buddhism came to associate islands with dragon kings. As China's maritime activity increased, so, too, did fiction regarding islands of adventure. These conceptions of sacred islands and islands of adventure coexisted with the use of actual islands as places of political exile. By exploring island traditions in Chinese literature, this paper adds to our knowledge of how and why people throughout history have regarded islands and archipelagos as special. This paper also pursues a decolonial island studies by challenging some of the Eurocentric and imperialistic tendencies within the research field, which have led to a privileging of Western island metaphors and understandings.
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The phenomenon of colonialism influenced the cultures, economies, and politics of the majority of the world's population. The subsequent decolonization process has likewise had profound affects on colonized societies. Island societies... more
The phenomenon of colonialism influenced the cultures, economies, and politics of the majority of the world's population. The subsequent decolonization process has likewise had profound affects on colonized societies. Island societies undergoing decolonization face many of the same pressures and challenges as do mainland societies, yet island spatiality and the history of island colonization itself has left former and present-day island colonies with distinctive colonial legacies. From the Caribbean to the Arctic to the Pacific to the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, colonial and decolonial processes are creating tensions between maintenance of the culture of indigenous peoples, economic development, cultivation of cultural heritage, political modernization, status on the global stage, democratic governance, and educational achievement. We call for an island studies perspective on decolonization, emphasizing the importance of appropriately positioning expert knowledge relative to the needs of colonized and indigenous peoples and highlighting the pitfalls of neocolonialsim. We thus lay the groundwork for island studies as a decolonial project.
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Small islands worldwide are increasingly turning to conspicuous sustainability as a development strategy. Island spatiality encourages renewable energy and sustainability initiatives that emphasise iconicity and are undertaken in order to... more
Small islands worldwide are increasingly turning to conspicuous sustainability as a development strategy. Island spatiality encourages renewable energy and sustainability initiatives that emphasise iconicity and are undertaken in order to gain competitive advantage, strengthen sustainable tourism or ecotourism, claim undue credit, distract from failures of governance or obviate the need for more comprehensive policy action. Without necessarily contributing significantly to climate change mitigation, the pursuit of eco-island status can raise costs without raising income, distract from more pressing social and environmental problems, lead to competitive sustainability and provide green cover behind which communities can maintain unsustainable practices. We argue that eco-islands do not successfully encourage wider sustainable development and climate change mitigation. Instead, island communities may place themselves in eco-island traps. Islands may invest in inefficient or ineffective renewable energy and sustainability initiatives in order to maintain illusory eco-island status for the benefit of ecotourism, thereby becoming trapped by the eco-label. Islands may also chase the diminishing returns of ever-more comprehensive and difficult to achieve sustainability, becoming trapped into serving as eco-island exemplars. We conclude by arguing that island communities should pursue locally contextualised development, potentially focused on climate change adaptation, rather than focus on an eco-island status that is oriented toward place branding and ecotourism.
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Over the past decades, islands and archipelagos undergoing decolonisation have opted not to pursue independence. Many have instead become autonomous subnational island jurisdictions (SNIJs), maintaining links with their former colonisers... more
Over the past decades, islands and archipelagos undergoing decolonisation have opted not to pursue independence. Many have instead become autonomous subnational island jurisdictions (SNIJs), maintaining links with their former colonisers in order to gain economic, social, and political benefits. The age of island independence movements has largely ceased. One exception is Greenland, an SNIJ in which the public overwhelmingly favours independence from Denmark. This desire for independence is linked to a binary understanding of Greenlandic identity and Danish identity as well as a binary understanding of independence and dependence. Greenland's colonial experience has trapped it in a Denmark-oriented conceptualisation of Greenlandic identity, which prevents the pursuit of potential political and economic futures, for example gaining economic benefits through the provision of strategic services to a patron state. This study demonstrates how island status and centre-periphery relations can influencepolitical culture and, by considering the exceptional case of a present-day island independence movement, sheds light on the dynamics of island-mainland relations more generally.
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Governments and developers around the globe are exploiting the benefits of island spatiality to sell urban sustainability. Many new-build smart cities, eco-cities, and sustainable cities ('smart eco-cities') are constructed on small... more
Governments and developers around the globe are exploiting the benefits of island spatiality to sell urban sustainability. Many new-build smart cities, eco-cities, and sustainable cities ('smart eco-cities') are constructed on small islands or otherwise bounded from surrounding urban space. Island spatiality presents benefits for selling smart eco-cities as role models of sustainable innovation: ease of creating value, ease of measuring sustainability, and ease of communicating success. These benefits, however, are all largely illusory, contributing primarily to the appearance of sustainability for the sake of economic profit. The great innovation of island smart-cities is frequently an innovation in the selling of sustainability. By monetising the environment through ecosystem services, incentivising largely symbolic 'green' projects and architecture, drawing attention away from unsustainable practices elsewhere, and exacerbating social inequality, island smart eco-cities may be making the world less sustainable. They may also be unreproducible by design and lead to a global devaluing of genuinely sustainable but non-iconic urban development. Island smart eco-cities increasingly serve as secessionary enclaves for a global elite, privileging corporate over public interests and spearheading an invidious argument of sustainable development by deregulation.
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Although democracy is often discussed as a universally applicable ideology, the liberal democratic state tends to assess democracy on the basis of government institutions. This paper argues that democratic institutionalism favours... more
Although democracy is often discussed as a universally applicable ideology, the liberal democratic state tends to assess democracy on the basis of government institutions. This paper argues that democratic institutionalism favours national governments and makes it difficult for subnational governments to expand their governance capacity and exercise additional powers. Greenland, Shetland, and Tresco (Isles of Scilly) serve as case studies of different subnational strategies for exercising greater governance capacity: 1) Actual adherence to democratic form (Greenland), 2) Symbolic adherence to democratic form (Shetland), and 3) Operating external to democratic form (Tresco). Despite the efforts of local governance actors, governance in these three island communities has proved problematic in terms of democratic legitimacy, legality, and/or effectiveness. It is argued that pressure toward the development of liberal democratic government institutions can in fact decrease the quality of subnational democracy. This requires a reassessment of definitions of democracy and authoritarianism. It is necessary to pursue place-specific and community-sensitive democracies of scale if we wish to democratically empower local communities.
Research Interests: Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Legitimacy and Authority, Government, Political Science, and 12 moreGovernance, Local Government and Local Development, Political Legitimacy, Subnational Politics, Democracy, Orkney and Shetland studies, Authoritarianism, Territoriality, Multilevel governance, Greenland, Islands, and Isles of Scilly
Regional, national and global cities are disproportionately located on small islands and archipelagos. The ‘spatial turn’ within island and urban geography increasingly privileges abstract notions of space, yet the prevalence of big... more
Regional, national and global cities are disproportionately located on small islands and archipelagos. The ‘spatial turn’ within island and urban geography increasingly privileges abstract notions of space, yet the prevalence of big cities on small islands suggests that sensitivity to place-specific spatial factors is necessary if we are to understand both islands and the urban. Whereas previous studies of island cities have tended to underplay the effect of either the island or the urban, the present paper advocates an urban island studies that seeks to explain why islands and cities are so strongly associated. The paper argues that benefits of island spatiality encourage the establishment of seats of government and trading posts on small islands: Territoriality benefits assist political and economic elites in maintaining local authority and projecting power outwards, defence benefits help protect local powerholders from external military threat and transport benefits make strategically located small islands ideal sites for port industries. Land scarcity caused by island spatiality subsequently leads to urban densification and powerful agglomeration economies, resulting in the formation and growth of island cities. Examples from island cities and urban archipelagos such as Copenhagen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Lagos, Macau, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York City, Paris, Tokyo and Zhoushan demonstrate that urbanisation and city formation occur in place as well as in space. Orienting toward urban island studies provides insight into both island and urban processes.
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Island studies tends to focus on peripheral, isolated, and marginal aspects of island communities, while urban studies has showed scant awareness of islandness: Although many people research cities on islands, there is little tradition of... more
Island studies tends to focus on peripheral, isolated, and marginal aspects of island communities, while urban studies has showed scant awareness of islandness: Although many people research cities on islands, there is little tradition of researching island cities or urban archipelagos per se. Island cities (densely populated small islands and population centres of larger islands and archipelagos) nevertheless play import cultural, economic, political, and environmental roles on local, regional, and global scales. Many major cities and ports have developed on small islands, and even villages can fulfil important urban functions on lightly populated islands. Island concepts are also deployed to metaphorically describe developments in urban space. The journal Urban Island Studies explores island and urban processes around the world, taking an island approach to urban research and an urban approach to island research.
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This article foregrounds urban public space by considering land reclamation in island cities. Land reclamation is nearly ubiquitous in the urban development of coastal cities, and island cities in particular are subject to exceptionally... more
This article foregrounds urban public space by considering land reclamation in island cities. Land reclamation is nearly ubiquitous in the urban development of coastal cities, and island cities in particular are subject to exceptionally dense urbanisation and thus exceptionally strong conflict over urban space. Drawing upon theories at the intersection of the land and the sea (liquid, archipelago, and aquapelago spatiality), we analyse socially problematic aspects of the creation of new urban space through land reclamation. Land reclamation occurs in island cities such as Bahrain, Copenhagen, Dubai, Hong Kong, Macau, New York City, and Xiamen in order to construct space for urban industrial, residential, and leisure functions while avoiding the social conflict that often accompanies urban renewal efforts. However, whether in the case of publically accessible leisure parks or secessionary island enclaves for the ultra-rich, land reclamation processes serve powerful societal forces and represent the capture of urban space for elite interests. This reduces the prospects for urban public space and limits the horizons for the development of more socially just future cities. The transformation of unclaimed fluid space into solid private space is a relative form of accumulation by dispossession, even if the public has never been aware of what it possessed.
Research Interests: Urban Geography, Architecture, Island Studies, Urban History, Urban Studies, and 9 moreIslamic Studies, Public Health, Urban Development, Accumulation by Dispossession, Urban Public Open Space, Participatory development & governance, in urban development, disaster management, water supplay & sanitation sector, Land Reclamation, Islands, and Urban Island Studies
Both islands and cities are often conceptualized in terms of centre-periphery relationships. Scholarly attempts to nuance popular associations of islands with peripherality and cities with centrality reflect awareness of underlying power... more
Both islands and cities are often conceptualized in terms of centre-periphery relationships. Scholarly attempts to nuance popular associations of islands with peripherality and cities with centrality reflect awareness of underlying power relationships. Drawing upon island studies and urban studies knowledge, the case of Nuuk, Greenland, is used to explore how centring and peripheralizing processes play out in an island city. Greenland as a whole came to be regarded as a peripheral region under Danish colonialism, but since the 1950s, Danes and Greenlanders have sought to transform Greenland into its own centre. Nuuk grew into a city and a political, administrative and economic centre relative to Greenland’s small settlements, which came to be seen as central to Greenlandic culture. Nuuk’s rapid growth – dependent on imported Danish designs, materials, technologies, policies and labour – has resulted in an island city of immense contrasts, with monumental modern buildings standing alongside dilapidated 1960s apartment blocks and with strongly differentiated neighbourhoods. Nuuk is both at the centre and on the periphery, enmeshed in power relationships with other Greenlandic settlements and with Denmark. Nuuk is a result of urban design processes that are conditioned by both infrastructural systems and a confluence of spatio-temporal factors.
Research Interests: Arctic Social Science, Island Studies, Urban Planning, Urban Studies, Decolonialization, and 12 moreUrbanization, Urban Development, Ports and Harbours, Denmark, Urban Design, Spatial planning, Decolonization, Urban and rural development planning, Greenland, Island Cities, Nuuk, and Centre-Periphery Relationships
Technology has politics and plays a role in societal governance. This article explores the fishing community of Karanrang island (Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia) to consider how fishing technologies reinforce existing power structures... more
Technology has politics and plays a role in societal governance. This article explores the fishing community of Karanrang island (Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia) to consider how fishing technologies reinforce existing power structures in the local informal governance system. Informal governance actors deploy the politics of technology in order to manage a socially problematic and environmentally destructive fishing economy. In the punggawa-sawi system of patron-client relationships, fishers are economically dependent on patrons, who supply them with fishing technologies like boats, bombs, and cyanide. The patrons themselves are embedded in a complex governance network, encompassing corrupt police and officials, importers, and live food fish traders. The politics of technology contribute to maintaining the local informal governance system of patron-client relationships. This paper draws upon theories from science and technology studies and network governance to argue that although patron-client relationships are problematic in themselves, the politics of technology further maintain power imbalances.
Research Interests: Island Studies, Computer Networks, Regional and Local Governance, Network governance, Marine Conservation, and 12 moreIndonesia, Fisheries Management, Databases, Politics of Technology, Software, Politics of Science and Technology, Patron-Client Relations, Fisheries Technology, Informal governance, Live Reef Food Fish, Destructive Fishing, and Science and Technology Studies
The Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is under a limited form of Norwegian sovereignty and its settlements – among the northernmost in the world – are sites of activity by a range of states, most notably Russia. Norway's Svalbard policy has... more
The Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is under a limited form of Norwegian sovereignty and its settlements – among the northernmost in the world – are sites of activity by a range of states, most notably Russia. Norway's Svalbard policy has historically focused on marginalizing Russian influence. Through the use of informal diplomacy involving the creation of an economically diverse town (Longyearbyen, population around 2,070) and the promotion of scientific research, Norway is consolidating its control over the archipelago. At the same time, however, it risks losing authority within Svalbard due to the strengthening of local democracy in Longyearbyen and the increasing opportunities in Svalbard for the involvement of non-traditional Arctic actors such as the Asian economic powers. This article considers the historical basis for the present situation in Svalbard as well as the complex results of Norway's attempt to achieve its foreign policy through informal diplomacy.
Research Interests: International Relations, Science Policy, Arctic Social Science, Island Studies, Community Development, and 12 moreRussian Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Svalbard, Norway, Arctic Research, Paradiplomacy, Arctic and Antarctic politics, science policy, geopolitics of the polar regions, international relations, Jurisdictional Capacity, Russian policy in the Arctic region, relationship between Russia and the Baltic states., Arctic Council, Norwegian Foreign Policy, and Geopolitics of the Polar Regions
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Although the field of island studies has from the start regarded itself as a defender of islands and islander interests, it is entangled in coloniality. This editorial focuses on issues of power, knowledge, and position. Who wields power... more
Although the field of island studies has from the start regarded itself as a defender of islands and islander interests, it is entangled in coloniality. This editorial focuses on issues of power, knowledge, and position. Who wields power in island studies? Who knows about islands? Where is island studies located, and how does it position itself? The paper discusses problems such as tokenism and forced inclusions, denial and circumscription of expertise, and onto-epistemological discrimination and hegemony within island studies. Ultimately, the paper advances the need for critical reflexivity and decolonial methodology within island studies, for pluralistic approaches to inclusivity and recognition of epistemic differences.
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The Svalbard archipelago (also known as Spitsbergen) is an international relations hub and home to the world’s northernmost communities. After centuries of being regarded as terra nullius, Norway gained jurisdiction over Svalbard through... more
The Svalbard archipelago (also known as Spitsbergen) is an international relations hub and home to the world’s northernmost communities. After centuries of being regarded as terra nullius, Norway gained jurisdiction over Svalbard through the Svalbard Treaty of 1920. The Svalbard Treaty also granted rights to nationals of other states, most significantly the right to undertake economic activity on equal footing. In order to reinforce their territorial claims, Norway and the Soviet Union/Russia maintained mining towns in Svalbard for much of the twentieth century. Today, the Norwegian towns of Longyearbyen and Ny-Alesund are economically dominated by Arctic tourism and scientific research, while the Russian town of Barentsburg remains a “company town.” The rise of new economic powers in Asia (particularly China), assertive Norwegian foreign policy, and economic liberalization have combined to make Svalbard a uniquely international territory, with citizens from dozens of countries contributing through their very presence to diplomatic claims on behalf of their home states. Svalbard remains at the crux of a series of international disputes between Norway, Russia, and other states, involving marine territory, military activity, and environmental protection. Svalbard’s community life and its role in international relations can only be understood with reference to one another.
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A local government can use innovative governance practices to expand its jurisdictional capacity, thereby promoting local economic development. There are, however, legal and institutional impediments to the exercise of such innovative... more
A local government can use innovative governance practices to expand its jurisdictional capacity, thereby promoting local economic development. There are, however, legal and institutional impediments to the exercise of such innovative economic development policy. Using the subnational jurisdiction of Shetland as a case study, this paper considers how local government innovation can be a key driver of economic development. Local government innovation can nevertheless become subject to legal challenges by authorities in the higherlevel jurisdictions (Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the European Union in the case of Shetland). Community concerns related to standards of good governance can compound these difficulties, resulting in a significant decrease in democratic accountability and a weakening of the local government's de facto capacity to plan and implement policy. Before local governments can make the most of multilevel governance, local communities and high-lever jurisdicti...
Research Interests: Public Administration, Political Economy, European Law, Island Studies, Governance, and 11 moreLocal Government and Local Development, European Union, Economic Development, Scots Law, Subnational Politics, Democracy, Orkney and Shetland studies, Multi Level Governance, Democracy and Good Governance, Subnational Island Jurisdictions, and Innovation
Island studies research has traditionally focused on relatively rural, peripheral, and isolated communities, yet island cities (strongly urbanized small islands or archipelagos or major population centres of large islands or archipelagos)... more
Island studies research has traditionally focused on relatively rural, peripheral, and isolated communities, yet island cities (strongly urbanized small islands or archipelagos or major population centres of large islands or archipelagos) also represent an important research area. Island spatiality has a host of historical and continuing effects on urban development, influencing urban densification and agglomeration, zonal differentiation, and neighbourhood formation in cities both big and small. This special section of Island Studies Journal includes papers on the island cities and urban archipelagos of Peel (Isle of Man, British Isles), Nuuk (Greenland), Palma de Majorca (Spain), Belize City (Belize), and Mumbai (India). The Island Cities and Urban Archipelagos research network seeks to help enrich wider island studies scholarship and contribute to introducing the island dimension to urban studies.
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Both islands and cities are often conceptualized in terms of centre-periphery relationships. Scholarly attempts to nuance popular associations of islands with peripherality and cities with centrality reflect awareness of underlying power... more
Both islands and cities are often conceptualized in terms of centre-periphery relationships. Scholarly attempts to nuance popular associations of islands with peripherality and cities with centrality reflect awareness of underlying power relationships. Drawing upon island studies and urban studies knowledge, the case of Nuuk, Greenland, is used to explore how centring and peripheralizing processes play out in an island city. Greenland as a whole came to be regarded as a peripheral region under Danish colonialism, but since the 1950s, Danes and Greenlanders have sought to transform Greenland into its own centre. Nuuk grew into a city and a political, administrative and economic centre relative to Greenland’s small settlements, which came to be seen as central to Greenlandic culture. Nuuk’s rapid growth – dependent on imported Danish designs, materials, technologies, policies and labour – has resulted in an island city of immense contrasts, with monumental modern buildings standing al...
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This paper presents a comparison of processes of financialisation of built environments in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Ankara, with emphasis on entrepreneurial urban governance, housing policies and the sphere of cooperative housing. The... more
This paper presents a comparison of processes of financialisation of built environments in Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Ankara, with emphasis on entrepreneurial urban governance, housing policies and the sphere of cooperative housing. The motivation for focusing specifically on forms of cooperative housing is that cooperative housing represents a particularly interesting segment because of its position between the market and the state. Entrepreneurial urban governance is especially relevant to recent developments in these case cities, as the shift from managerialism to entrepreneurialism has involved privatisation and marketization of housing, opening up this major sector of built environments to the penetration of financial interests.
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Greenland is a strongly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) within the Kingdom of Denmark. This paper takes its point of departure in studies of politics in small island territories to ask to what extent Greenland matches... more
Greenland is a strongly autonomous subnational island jurisdiction (SNIJ) within the Kingdom of Denmark. This paper takes its point of departure in studies of politics in small island territories to ask to what extent Greenland matches findings from other small island states and SNIJs in terms of personalisation of politics, party performance, and political cleavages that do not follow left-right divides. Even though Greenland possesses a strongly multiparty system, supported by elections involving party-list proportional representation within a single multimember constituency, a single political party, Siumut, has led the government for all but a brief period since the advent of Greenlandic autonomy in 1979. By considering Greenland’s political ecosystem, spatially and personally conditioned aspects of voter behaviour, and coalition-building processes, paying particular attention to the 24 April 2018 parliamentary elections, we argue that it is inappropriate to study Greenland as a...
Research Interests: Human Geography, Comparative Politics, Island Studies, Politics, Democracy, and 10 moreElections, Small States, Small Island Developing States, Greenland, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Islands, Proportional Representation, Electoral politics, Subnational Island Jurisdictions, and Political Parties and Party Politics
Abstract Island peoples around the world remain entangled in colonial processes. Western and metropolitan powers are increasingly deploying discourse of a ‘China threat’ to justify neocolonial entrenchment in the form of greater Western... more
Abstract Island peoples around the world remain entangled in colonial processes. Western and metropolitan powers are increasingly deploying discourse of a ‘China threat’ to justify neocolonial entrenchment in the form of greater Western militarisation and economic dominance. In this paper, we investigate how Western and metropolitan powers use the China threat and warnings of economic, environmental, demographic, and military disaster to maintain and deepen colonial influence in former colonies, with special focus on four island states and territories: Guahan/Guam in Oceania, Kalaallit Nunaat/Greenland in the Arctic, Okinawa in East Asia, and Jamaica in the Caribbean. We undertake this investigation as a means of practicing decolonial political geography, collaborating as a group of scholars from around the world and drawing upon diverse epistemologies and experiences to inform collaborative research and writing. Due to the complexities we have confronted in our efforts to think outside coloniality, this paper foregrounds our decolonial methodology and process, even as we respect our empirical findings.
Research Interests: History, Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Indigenous Studies, Research Methodology, and 14 morePacific Island Studies, Island Studies, Political Science, Colonialism, United States In The World, Okinawan Studies, China, Political Geography, Military and Politics, Decolonial Thought, Decolonization, Public Policy and Administration, Islands, and Public Administration and Policy
Kalaallit Nunaat (known in English as ‘Greenland’) is an autonomous region of Denmark as well as the only Indigenous territory in the Arctic with a legally established roadmap toward independence. The relationship between economic,... more
Kalaallit Nunaat (known in English as ‘Greenland’) is an autonomous region of Denmark as well as the only Indigenous territory in the Arctic with a legally established roadmap toward independence. The relationship between economic, political, and cultural independence is not straightforward, however, and Kalaallit Nunaat is confronted by a range of significant political choices related to both domestic and foreign policy—choices that are subject to close observation and comment by state actors not only in Denmark (Kalaallit Nunaat’s colonizer) but also in the USA and China. Although the population of Kalaallit Nunaat is overwhelmingly in favor of political independence from Denmark, the territory’s national proportional representation system for parliamentary elections supports a large number of political parties representing distinctive constellations of voter interests and ideologies. As Kalaallit Nunaat moves toward further urbanization, greater connectedness to the outside world through airport development, and geopolitical repositioning as a result of evolving USA security policy and China’s Belt and Road Initiative, this Arctic Indigenous territory will continue to undergo political change.
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This paper considers the cases of urban redevelopment at waterfront and brownfield sites in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Hamburg (Germany) to explore how two municipal governments have pursued divergent kinds of entrepreneurial governance,... more
This paper considers the cases of urban redevelopment at waterfront and brownfield sites in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Hamburg (Germany) to explore how two municipal governments have pursued divergent kinds of entrepreneurial governance, even as they have aimed to create similar kinds of new-build neighbourhoods. Copenhagen and Hamburg have both engaged in large-scale speculative development projects, simultaneously raising urban land values and adding urban public good. The cities follow a long tradition of using land value capture to raise funds for municipal activities, yet their scopes of action and tools for achieving progress have been shaped by local economic and political conditions. Although both cities began redevelopment at similar kinds of sites in the 1990s, Copenhagen’s municipal government was relatively impoverished, while Hamburg’s municipal government was relatively wealthy. As a result, even though both cities deployed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and revolving fu...
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The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a project conceptualized and developed by the Chinese state, aims to enhance international cooperation, address issues of shared regional and global concern, and create opportunities for foreign direct... more
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a project conceptualized and developed by the Chinese state, aims to enhance international cooperation, address issues of shared regional and global concern, and create opportunities for foreign direct investment in struggling economies. The BRI can be seen as a system for supplying global public goods, including sustainable development within which issues related to climate change sit. A great many small island states and territories are participating in the BRI, particularly in its constituent 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. However, the BRI has not yet placed sufficient focus on climate change adaptation or issues specific to small islands. Furthermore, the BRI’s conceptual basis in rhetoric of mutual dependence and a community of common destiny have not always been evident in the individual activities that have been carried out within the BRI. If the BRI’s goals are to be taken seriously, it must do more to focus on the needs and perspectives...
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This paper analyses the ancient Maritime Silk Road through a relational island studies approach. Island ports and island cities represented key sites of water-facilitated transport and exchange in the ancient Indian Ocean and South China... more
This paper analyses the ancient Maritime Silk Road through a relational island studies approach. Island ports and island cities represented key sites of water-facilitated transport and exchange in the ancient Indian Ocean and South China Sea. Building our analysis upon a historical overview of the ancient Maritime Silk Road from the perspective of China’s Guangdong Province and the city of Guangzhou, we envision a millennia-long ‘Silk Road Archipelago’ encompassing island cities and island territories stretching across East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa. Bearing in mind the complex movements of peoples, places, and processes involved, we conceptualise the ancient Maritime Silk Road as an uncentred network of archipelagic relation. This conceptualisation of the ancient Maritime Silk Road as a vast archipelago can have relevance for our understanding of China’s present-day promotion of a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road as part of the Belt and Road Initia...
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Islands and archipelagos are exceptionally dependent on the nature of their transport infrastructure, with cross-sea transport links being of fundamental importance for mobility. Traditionally, the island geography research literature has... more
Islands and archipelagos are exceptionally dependent on the nature of their transport infrastructure, with cross-sea transport links being of fundamental importance for mobility. Traditionally, the island geography research literature has engaged in a binary and oppositional understanding of the relationship between fixed links such as bridges and tunnels on the one hand and waterborne transport such as ferries on the other. The present paper uses the case of Zhoushan Archipelago (Zhejiang Province, China) to challenge this perception of fixed links and waterborne transport as inherently conflictual by showing how these distinct modes of cross-sea transport have complemented one another and fundamentally altered archipelagic mobilities. We show that even transformative transport infrastructures do not necessarily simply replace existing infrastructures but may instead add to the complexity of the local transport network. In Zhoushan Archipelago, a vast network of new and future inte...
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Abstract It is frequently noted that small islands, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS), receive hugely disproportionate levels of aid or official development assistance (ODA) relative to other states and territories. However,... more
Abstract It is frequently noted that small islands, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS), receive hugely disproportionate levels of aid or official development assistance (ODA) relative to other states and territories. However, the precise relationship between 'islandness' and aid remains underexamined. This paper uses the concept of 'conspicuous sustainability' as a framework for understanding the propensity for aid to be directed toward small island territories. We argue (1) that aid donors have reasons for preferring engagement in development projects that are particularly conspicuous, irrespective of actual development outcomes and (2) that small island territories are exceptionally well-placed to produce such conspicuousness. We use the case of the construction of the 'climate-resilient' Dominica label following Hurricane Maria in 2017 to illustrate how both aid donors and recipients can be motivated to pursue short-term projects aimed at currently fashionable areas in the field of development (such as climate change resilience) instead of addressing areas with greater potential to foster lasting improvements and built local capacity. We ultimately recommend a greater awareness of the false economies of conspicuous ODA and aid.
Research Interests: Climate Change, Pacific Island Studies, Climate Change Adaptation, Political Science, Sustainable Development, and 9 moreCaribbean Studies, Foreign Aid, Multidisciplinary, Small Island Developing States, Islands, Official Development Assistance (ODA), Sustainability, Islands and Archipelagos, and conspicuous sustainability
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Amidst the debate concerning how to interpret the emergence of new forms of urbanism in today’s world, little attention has been given to urban interstices – the inter-urban boundary areas and interface zones that facilitate exchange... more
Amidst the debate concerning how to interpret the emergence of new forms of urbanism in today’s world, little attention has been given to urban interstices – the inter-urban boundary areas and interface zones that facilitate exchange between and within vast urban systems. The present paper considers how place is made and developed at these interstices, which frequently provide essential urban functions but are also frequently regarded as rural. We explore this topic through the case of Zhoushan Archipelago (Zhejiang Province, China), an interface zone both between cities within the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and between the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and other megaregions. Like many islands, Zhoushan Archipelago has long been conceptualised as peripheral to the urban yet has simultaneously performed vital urban functions. The paper uses this case to shed light on what interstitiality (in-betweenness) means in today’s urbanism, both for the people living ‘in...
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Research Interests: Information Systems, Sociology, Human Geography, Indigenous Studies, Publishing, and 10 morePacific Island Studies, Island Studies, Colonialism, Indigenous Peoples Rights, Indigenous Peoples, Decolonization, Ethics of Publishing, Islands, Outsider insider methodology, and Colonial Matrix of Power/Knowledge
Abstract Many island cities have vulnerable ecosystems, yet island ecosystems also present special challenges for research. Ecological footprint analysis is an effective method of evaluating the ability of island cities to engage in... more
Abstract Many island cities have vulnerable ecosystems, yet island ecosystems also present special challenges for research. Ecological footprint analysis is an effective method of evaluating the ability of island cities to engage in regional ecological sustainable development. This study uses ecological footprint analysis combined with the ArcGIS platform to evaluate the ecological security of 14 neighborhoods on Zhoushan Island (Zhejiang Province, China) in 2010, 2013, and 2015. The partial least squares regression model is used to explore factors affecting spatial and temporal differences in ecological security in the island’s neighborhoods and to help optimize the island’s ecological sustainable development. Results reveal that Zhoushan Island’s per capita ecological footprint decreased from 7.355 hm2 in 2010 to 4.662 hm2 in 2015, yet throughout the study period, the per capita ecological footprint remained higher than the per capita ecological carrying capacity in all neighborhoods. Although the island’s ecological security has gradually improved, there continue to be large ecological deficits and ecological pressure. To improve the island city’s ecological security, we should optimize the mode of urban development, develop renewable energy sources, protect ecologically valuable land, improve the scale and quality of urban zones and transportation infrastructure, and improve residents’ industrial and consumption structures.
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Research Interests: Information Systems, Geography, Human Geography, Economics, International Relations, and 15 moreIndigenous Studies, Development Studies, Island Studies, Political Science, Colonialism, Economic Development, China, Independence, Arctic, Decolonization, Greenland, Inuit, Islands, Dependency Theory, and Nationalism and Decolonization
This special section seeks to identify what it is that makes islands special as well as to critique the limitations of generalised conceptions of islandness. In recent years, the field of island studies has drawn on critical trends in... more
This special section seeks to identify what it is that makes islands special as well as to critique the limitations of generalised conceptions of islandness. In recent years, the field of island studies has drawn on critical trends in geography, being particularly influenced by the “relational turn,” the “decolonial turn,” and theories of the Anthropocene. The papers in this special section focus on the themes of vulnerability and resilience, indigeneity, spatial transformation, democracy and governance, urbanisation and transport, enclavisation and eco‐cultural tourism, mobility and connective infrastructures, and Anthropocene relationality to explore new horizons in island geography research.
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Islands are often associated with isolation, peripherality and disconnectedness, and fixed links such as bridges and causeways are often regarded as factors that decrease the quality of islandness. The present paper sheds light on the... more
Islands are often associated with isolation, peripherality and disconnectedness, and fixed links such as bridges and causeways are often regarded as factors that decrease the quality of islandness. The present paper sheds light on the complexity of island and archipelago connectivities by considering the transport infrastructure and relationships between, within and among the numerous islands of Venice Lagoon, Italy. The paper argues that island communities face diverse sets of challenges, and there is no one right connectivity‐enhancing solution that is applicable to all islands.
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Research Interests: Human Geography and Area
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Various countries provide legal protections and preferential policies to Indigenous peoples, ethnic minority groups, and minority nationality communities. Such communities tend to be territorialized, with conceptions of indigeneity rooted... more
Various countries provide legal protections and preferential policies to Indigenous peoples, ethnic minority groups, and minority nationality communities. Such communities tend to be territorialized, with conceptions of indigeneity rooted in a specific Indigenous territory, homeland, or locality. This territorialization is problematic because it supports state strategies to frame Indigenous peoples as objects of development and creates a false choice between maginalization and culture loss. We use the case of the Indigenous Dan fishing community of Sanya City, Hainan, China to explore how the territorialization of indigeneity can furthermore complicate efforts to protect Indigenous communities that have never been associated with any particular territory. The Dan’s maritime lifestyle has contributed to them not being regarded as one of China’s official and protected minority nationalities. The Dan of Sanya City face severe livelihood and cost of living challenges during a major urban renewal process occasioned by Sanya City’s development policy. This has left the Dan with neither state protection nor opportunities to assimilate into or adapt to the majority society. We call for a radical deterritorialization of concepts of indigeneity both to empower Indigenous groups that cannot be easily territorialized and to help prevent Indigenous peoples in general from becoming objects of assimilationist development policy.
Research Interests: Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Indigenous Studies, Political Science, Indigeneity, and 15 moreMinority Studies, China, Ethnic minorities, Political Geography, Indigenous Peoples, Territoriality, Livelihood, Fishing, Territory, Fishing Communities, Islands, Marginalization, National Minority, Ethnic Minorities, and Hainan Island
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Island studies has developed into an established, interdisciplinary research field. It is important that island studies not only continue deepening its internal theoretical understandings but also reach out to other fields and regions... more
Island studies has developed into an established, interdisciplinary research field. It is important that island studies not only continue deepening its internal theoretical understandings but also reach out to other fields and regions that have received limited attention within island studies. It is also necessary for island studies to grapple with a number of problematic tendencies within the field and the wider scholarship, including by challenging the misuse of island spatiality to produce idealised visions of islands (for example in island sustainability research). Similarly, it is important to pursue a decolonial island studies that rethinks the ways in which island development research can end up marginalising Indigenous voices at the same time as it seeks to understand islands ‘on their own terms’.
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Research Interests: Sociology, Cultural Studies, Human Geography, International Relations, Island Studies, and 15 moreSovereignty, Political Science, Nationalism, Colonialism, Subnational Politics, Political Geography, Pergamon, Denmark, Arctic, Decolonization, Greenland, Inuit, Independence movements, Subnational Governments, and Post Colonialism
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ABSTRACT Although democracy is often discussed as a universally applicable ideology, the liberal democratic state tends to assess democracy on the basis of government institutions. This paper argues that democratic institutionalism... more
ABSTRACT Although democracy is often discussed as a universally applicable ideology, the liberal democratic state tends to assess democracy on the basis of government institutions. This paper argues that democratic institutionalism favours national governments and makes it difficult for subnational governments to expand their governance capacity and exercise additional powers. Greenland, Shetland, and Tresco (Isles of Scilly) serve as case studies of different subnational strategies for exercising greater governance capacity: 1) Actual adherence to democratic form (Greenland), 2) Symbolic adherence to democratic form (Shetland), and 3) Operating external to democratic form (Tresco). Despite the efforts of local governance actors, governance in these three island communities has proved problematic in terms of democratic legitimacy, legality, and/or effectiveness. It is argued that pressure toward the development of liberal democratic government institutions can in fact decrease the quality of subnational democracy. This requires a reassessment of definitions of democracy and authoritarianism. It is necessary to pursue place-specific and community-sensitive democracies of scale if we wish to democratically empower local communities.
Research Interests: Human Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Law, Economics, Legitimacy and Authority, and 15 moreGovernment, Geopolitics, Political Science, Governance, Local Government and Local Development, Political Legitimacy, Subnational Politics, Democracy, Orkney and Shetland studies, Authoritarianism, Territoriality, Multilevel governance, Greenland, Islands, and Isles of Scilly
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Research Interests: Geography, Human Geography, Economics, Mobility/Mobilities, Island Studies, and 12 moreGovernance, Economic Development, Orkney and Shetland studies, Spatial planning, Spatial Development, Islands, Spatial Distribution, Isle of Wight, Archipelagos, Subnational Island Jurisdictions, Isles of Scilly, and Peripheral Economies
This paper defines paradiplomacy as 'a political entity's extra-jurisdictional activating targeting foreign political entities'. Because paradiplomacy is specifically an example of political interaction between unequal... more
This paper defines paradiplomacy as 'a political entity's extra-jurisdictional activating targeting foreign political entities'. Because paradiplomacy is specifically an example of political interaction between unequal partners, taking place outside of the internationally accepted political sphere, it is by nature a contested practice. This paper argues that subnational jurisdictions and sovereign states have inherently differing policy objectives and that paradiplomacy is best capable of achieving policy objectives when it manages to either slip beneath the political radar of sovereign states or acquire the de facto concession of sovereign states. For this reason, the more sophisticated paradiplomatic tools (such as pseudo-embassies) are not necessarily more effective in achieving policy objectives than are less sophisticated tools (such as participation in international networks). Successful paradiplomatic practice requires a balance of developing political structures ...
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Research Interests: Mythology And Folklore, History, Geography, Folklore, History of Ideas, and 15 moreIsland Studies, History of Anthropology, Nationalism, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Orkney and Shetland studies, Ethnicity, Aryanism, History of Race and Ethnicity, History of historical writing, Mermaids, Celts and vikings, Fairies, Ethnicity and National Identity, Aryans, and Irish and Scottish Romanticism
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Recent research has shown how the economies of very small jurisdictions function differently from the economies of larger jurisdictions. Due to the small populations and small economic size of microstates and SNIJs (sub-national island... more
Recent research has shown how the economies of very small jurisdictions function differently from the economies of larger jurisdictions. Due to the small populations and small economic size of microstates and SNIJs (sub-national island jurisdictions), their governments function differently as well, tending to be disproportionately large relative to their populations. Although small economic size is often considered a disadvantage, microstates and SNIJs also possess competitive advantages in engaging in economic policy aimed at developing core competencies and nurturing economic diversity. This paper considers why such policies may be particularly effective in very small jurisdictions and explores examples (with a special focus on Shetland, UK) of how island jurisdictions are using place branding initiatives to turn tourism marketing into a means of diversifying their economies and expanding their innovative capacities. The paper also considers how such policies may be problematic in terms of tenets of good governance and democratic responsiveness.
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Research Interests: International Relations, Science Policy, Arctic Social Science, Island Studies, Community Development, and 12 morePolitical Science, Russian Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Svalbard, Norway, Arctic Research, Paradiplomacy, Public Policy and Administration, Jurisdictional Capacity, Arctic Council, Norwegian Foreign Policy, and Geopolitics of the Polar Regions
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The phenomenon of colonialism influenced the cultures, economies, and politics of the majority of the world's population. The subsequent decolonization process has likewise had profound affects on colonized societies. Island societies... more
The phenomenon of colonialism influenced the cultures, economies, and politics of the majority of the world's population. The subsequent decolonization process has likewise had profound affects on colonized societies. Island societies undergoing decolonization face many of the same pressures and challenges as do mainland societies, yet island spatiality and the history of island colonization itself has left former and present-day island colonies with distinctive colonial legacies. From the Caribbean to the Arctic to the Pacific to the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, colonial and decolonial processes are creating tensions between maintenance of the culture of indigenous peoples, economic development, cultivation of cultural heritage, political modernization, status on the global stage, democratic governance, and educational achievement. We call for an island studies perspective on decolonization, emphasizing the importance of appropriately positioning expert knowledge relative...