Democracy in small island states

Abstract

In today's world the idea of democracy is very popular. Taken all around, it is the desired form of Government, as it is associated with freedom. Yet, although all democracies are expected to be homogeneous in character, it seems that there is not just one type of democracy but many, as many as there are states within which the principles of democracy are exerted. In fact, its advocates still make a comparative distinction among democracies by Western standards, quasi democracies, flawed democracies and failed democracies. This scenario is widely reflected not only in large states but even amongst Small Island States. When compared to the former they are already at an advantage, because of small size. They all contain the potential to accelerate the necessary democratic transformation within their jurisdiction, but yet some are failing to adopt this political setting. From this departure point the study will analyse therefore what constitutes the ideal democracy as defined by Western Standards and why there seems to exist as many 'democracies' as there are Small Island States within the different regions they are mainly situated in. For the sake of brevity, the study will focus mainly on one particular Small Island State within a specific Regional context, Malta in the Mediterranean. Therefore, this will be better conceptualised by utilising the democratic development Malta managed to reach over time within the Mediterranean Region.