A special section to appear in: Small States and Territories, 8(1), May 2025
Guest Editors: Stefano Moncada and Pedro Pombo
Islands and Small States Institute, University of Malta, Malta
Small island states and territories are particularly vulnerable to adverse impacts of climate change. However, insular and small states’ cultural heritages and local knowledge systems, intimately connected with the environment, are often absent in discussions regarding climate resilience.
While climate change impacts cultural and natural landscapes, traditional heritages and vernacular knowledges may provide answers to sustainable futures through established cultural systems, especially by integrating ecological preservation with socioeconomic development. However, there seems to be scarce evidence of such interactions in the existing body of knowledge, especially in the context of small states and territories, where the literature has focused more on models and solutions at a higher scale, often distant from where communities live.
Small States & Territories journal (SST) invites contributions for a special section on Cultural heritage, territory and climate resilience, exploring the links between natural and cultural landscapes, vernacular knowledges and climate resilience, with a focus on small island states and territories. This includes, but is not limited to, the following themes:
We are interested in empirical research contributions that utilize a variety of research methods (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods). In all these contributions, authors must engage directly with the implications of small insular state (or territory) size and scale.
To be eligible for consideration, please submit an abstract of a maximum of 300 words to Guest Editors, Dr Stefano Moncada at stefano.moncada@um.edu.mt and Dr Pedro Pombo at pedro.sobral-pombo@um.edu.mt. The abstract should include the author(s) name, affiliation, the title of the proposed study, up to five keywords, and the corresponding email address. All manuscripts will be rigorously peer-reviewed.
All details regarding the SST house style can be found at: www.um/edu.mt/sst
Important dates
Abstract submission deadline: 30 January 2024
Deadline for notification of acceptance/rejection of abstract: 30 February 2024
Deadline for complete draft submission to Guest Editors: 30 June 2024
Publication (Online; Open Access): May 2025
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We live in an era of complex policy challenges and ongoing crises, some of them even overlapping. Crises are situations in which governments and public administrations must (re-)act under conditions of uncertainty, urgency and perceived threat. Recent examples include the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis, or natural disasters. Small states are especially vulnerable to crises because of their exposure to external factors and because problems can escalate quickly on a small scale. How do small states’ public administrations tackle such challenges?
Against this backdrop, Small States & Territories (SST) calls for the submission of manuscripts to a special section on ‘Public Administration and Crisis Governance in Small States’ to appear in Vol. 7, No. 2 (November 2024).
We expect crisis governance to have special characteristics in small states. While previous research has already identified special characteristics of public administrations in small countries, we know little about how these special traits play out in the context of crisis. For instance, small countries are characterized by limited resources and constraints on specialization, smaller numbers of actors, and more informal working procedures. What are the implications of these traits for managing complex policy challenges and emerging crises?
The articles in the special section could explore, for example:
Manuscripts that are comparative in approach are particularly welcome.
The special section editors (Külli Sarapuu and Marlene Jugl) invite interested authors to send an abstract of around 300 words to: sst@um.edu.mt by 8 September 2023. The authors should note that – due to the aim to publish in November 2024 – the deadline for the submission of full manuscripts is 9 January 2024.
About the journal: Launched in 2018, Small States & Territories (SST) has its institutional home at the Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta. All articles published in SST are rigorously peer-reviewed. SST is committed to the principles of open access (OA) publishing, as outlined in the IFLA Statement on Open Access to Scholarly Literature and Research Documentation. SST is a Diamond Open Access journal, with no processing charges or fees.
In the shadow of great power rivalry, small states face a myriad of security challenges that stretch their limited resources, and may threaten their sovereignty and territorial integrity. Frequently lumped together in broadly defined regions, a single-country perspective on international, regional, and national security remains an under-investigated subject; as is a ‘small state’ approach to shared challenges. From diverse lenses of security approaches, Small States & Territories journal is proposing a special section in its Volume 7, No 1 (May 2024) issue on the Security Challenges of Small States, offering researchers and practitioners a unique platform to present and discuss a wide spectrum of security challenges and possible solutions. This includes, but is not limited to, the following themes:
We are interested in empirical research contributions that utilize a variety of research methods (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods). In all these contributions, authors must engage directly with the implications of small state (or territory) size and scale.
To be eligible for consideration, please submit an abstract of a maximum of 300 words to Guest Editor, Dr Michal Pawinski at michal.pawinski@sta.uwi.edu and copy Co-Guest Editors, Dr Randy Seepersad at randy.seepersad@sta.uwi.edu and Dr Annita Montoute at annita.montoute@sta.uwi.edu . The abstract should include the author(s) name, affiliation, the title of the proposed study, up to five keywords, and the corresponding email address. All manuscripts will be rigorously peer-reviewed.
Important dates
Abstract submission deadline: 30 April 2023
Deadline for notification of acceptance/rejection of abstract: 12 May 2023
Deadline for complete draft submission to Guest Editors: 30 September 2023
Publication (Online; Open Access): May 2024
Launched in 2018, Small States & Territories (SST) has its institutional home at the Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta, Malta. All articles published in SST are rigorously peer-reviewed. SST is committed to the principles of open access (OA) publishing, as outlined in the IFLA Statement on Open Access to Scholarly Literature and Research Documentation. There are no costs for authors or readers.