Review of the book : Competing Strategies of Socio-Economic Development for Small Islands

Abstract

In the context of increased globalisation what should small island societies do? First, argue the authors of this collection, they must do something, for steady as she goes is no longer an option. Second, that something cannot be self-reliance, for they think only the terms of global integration, not integration itself, are open for debate. As presented here, this debate is simple enough: a society can develop an internal sustainability "from the inside-out" or it can rely on managing externalities and develop "from the outside-in." Bracketed by four more general essays, this book consists of a series of case studies which illustrate these two competing strategies in the relatively wealthy island communities of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean.