Pond Island:--- On March 11 to 14, 2018, Sint Maarten will be home to the first International Conference the Small Island Statestes (SIDS) and Subnational Island Jurisdictions (SNIJs). The conference will be hosted by USM in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability of the University of Prince Edward Island (Canada).
The organizing committee is proud to announce that they secured the Dr. Peter Clegg as one of the international keynote speakers for the conference. Dr. Clegg is one of the most eminent scholars in the fields of governance and development of non-independent territories and small states in the international system, with a particular focus on the Caribbean. His work spans disciplines like political science, economics, development studies and international relations. He (co-)authored books such as “The non-independent territories of the Caribbean and Pacific: Continuity or change?” and “Colonial trajectories in the Caribbean: The three Guianas”, as well as dozens of articles in academic journals. Notably, he is the co-editor of one of the very few comparative studies into the different governance systems of the Dutch, U.S., British and French dependencies in the Caribbean: “Governance in the non-independent Caribbean: challenges and opportunities in the 21st century”. Currently, Peter Clegg is an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Southampton, as well as Head of Department of Health and Social Sciences at that institution.
The conference will focus on the various circumstances and challenges of island territories worldwide, with a particular interest in their constitutional status. The differences and similarities between those islands that are fully independent and those that maintain ties with their former colonial power, will be another main area of study and debate. As the conference will take place on Sint Maarten, the peculiarities of our one geographical island divided between two distinct jurisdictions, one affiliated with France, the other with the Netherlands, will get specific attention as well.
Earlier, the conference organizers announced the participation of the Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Mrs. Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson as a keynote speaker. Several other contributions by eminent scholars and experts from the region and worldwide are expected to follow. The call for papers for the Conference is now in circulation and paper submissions which engage critically with multiple levels of island living can be submitted for consideration via the conference website: http://projects.upei.ca/unescochair/call-for-papers/. For further inquiries, persons can also contact the co-chairs of the local organizing committee at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
