Basic criteria for estimating the viability of small island states

Abstract

The emergence of a new category of states made of only small islands is a relatively recent phenomenon on the international scene. The appearance of new states since World War II has been so rapid that the international community has been unable for the time being to make analyse the specificity of all the problems which arise, lacking previous experience of a status of independence for small islands. Throughout the history many small islands were included inside larger political powers, forming long chains of stop-overs and trading centres. They contributed to the transportation and storage of goods and acquired a role in the strategic control and security of the continental powers. This was the case during antiquity and the Middle Ages for the Mediterranean thalassocraties. The Atlantic powers fought for the use and control of the East Indies Route from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century (Portugese and Dutch first, French and British later).