| CODE | IRL2084 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | The International Relations of Small States and Territories | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | International Relations | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit discusses the specific strategies and tactics that small (and mainly island) jurisdictions (both sovereign states and subnational units) have used - usually with good effect - in international relations since 1945. In a world led by large powers, but dominated numerically by relatively small polities, these small units are not necessarily weak and vulnerable (as they are often portrayed, or as they may portray themselves). Rather, they have 'soft' power resources which can be deployed to influence such vital issues as: bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, war and peace, natural resource management, the running of internationa oganisations, and actual or potential 'hard power' capability. Study-unit Aims: - To offer students rationalist and interpretative theories of smallness in relation to states and territories; - To alert students to the disproportionate presence and impact of small island states and territories in the contemporary international system; - To expose students to the specificities of small island jurisdictions, both sovereign and non-sovereign, in the realm of international relations; - To encourage a deep and critical understanding of 'small power' versus 'big power' confrontations (including specific case studies of these); - To appreciate the agenda-setting capacity of small states and territories. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Acknowledge the political, economic and environmental resources of small jurisdictions; - Appreciate the disproportionate role that political and civil society leaders and artists from small states can have in shaping decision making, even at global level; - Refer to specific episodes where these resources have been displayed or tested; - Describe the differential power dynamics and outcomes involved in 'small power' versus 'big power', or 'Goliath versus David' - style confrontations. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify/name and locate 20 small [island] states and 20 small [island] territories on the world map; - Discriminate between fatalist, realist and optimist assessments of the role and function of small states in the modern world; - Develop their research skills, particularly in searching for relatively obscure and non-mainstream but credible sources and other forms of secondary data; - Develop their oral and presentation skills. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: ALL these texts are either in the Library or available to me in electronic format (and I can share their pdfs with the students via VLE). The first text is the MAIN text: - Baldacchino, G. (Ed.) (2023). The success of small states in international relations: Mice that roar? London: Routedge. - Baldacchino, G. & Wivel, A. (2020). Editorial Introduction. In Handbook on the Politics of Small States (pp. 2-18). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. - Thorhallsson, B., and Steinsson, S. (2018). A theory of shelter. In Small States and Shelter Theory (pp. 24-58). London: Routledge. - Bartmann, B. (2012). From the wings to the footlights: the international relations of Europe's smallest states. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 50(4), 535-554. - Baldacchino, G. (2013). Thucydides or Kissinger? A critical review of smaller state diplomacy. In T. Shaw & A.F. Cooper (Eds.), The diplomacies of small states: Between vulnerability and resilience in the global political economy (pp. 21-40). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. - Neumann, I. B. & Gstöhl, S. (2004). Lilliputians in Gulliver's world? Small states in international relations. 24pp. Reykjavik, Iceland: Centre for Small State Studies. - Baldacchino, G. (2006). Innovative development strategies from non-sovereign island jurisdictions: a global review of economic policy and governance practices. World Development, 34(5), 852-867. - Bartmann, B. (1992). Saltwater frontiers: Jurisdiction as a resource for small islands. Charlottetown, Canada: Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island. - Lecours, A. (2002). Paradiplomacy: reflections on the foreign policy and international relations of regions. International Negotiation, 7(1), 91-114. - Moulton, A. & Machado, M. R. (2019). Bouncing forward after Irma and Maria: Acknowledging colonialism, problematizing resilience and thinking climate justice. Journal of Extreme Events, 6(1), 1940003. - Briguglio, L. (1995). Small island developing states and their economic vulnerabilities. World Development, 23(9), 1615-1632. - Commonwealth Secretariat (1985). Vulnerability: Small states in the global society. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. - Goetschel, L. (1998). Small states inside and outside the EU. London: Kluwer Academic. - Ourbak, T. & Magnan, A. K. (2018). The Paris Agreement and climate change negotiations. Regional Environmental Change, 18(8), 2201-2207. - Lewis, James (1990). The vulnerability of small island states to sea level rise: The need for holistic strategies. Disasters, 14(3), 241-248. - Power of Poetry: Dear Matafele Peinem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJuRjy9k7GA / https://www.pacificwomensnetwork.com/dear-matafele-peinem/ by K. Jetnil-Kijiner (Marshall Islands). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Fieldwork | ||||||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Godfrey Baldacchino |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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