Development of small states and the limits of the global political economy

Abstract

This article argues that the experiences of independent small states navigating the global political economy have exposed the limits of the neo-liberal model of development. While the focus on size in the literature provides important insights, more attention should be paid to how they are inserted into the global political economy. It calls for a wider lens that includes history, economic structures, and the strategic interests of powerful states in thinking about small states, which must, at the same time, account for non-sovereign territories and former colonies that have been integrated into the states of the colonial powers.