The problems

with microstates

States, Microstates and Is lands (ED) Edward Dommen and Philippe Hein This book provides a rich source of information on the problems and possibilities of islands and microstates facing the challenges of the modern world.

The first few chapters attempt to define a microstate and to list their characteristics. It is gener ally agreed that microstates are not only small physically but also economically. Chapter 3 gives a further demarcation.

Smallness can be externally imposed on people, (the divide and rule principle) or internally

generated. Small is not seen as beautiful but synonomous with a special set of constraints.

These are listed on p. 41 as: insularity and isolation; re source limitations; dependence on a very narrow range of agricultural products; distance from markets; serious balance of payments problems; narrow range of local skills; depend ence on one or few large companies; heavy dependence on aid and external institutions; proneness to certain natural disasters; and fragile natural ecologies.

All authors agree that micros tates and islands generally face problems. All agree that their viability is of critical importance.

The divergences occur on whe ther or not they believe the problems can be overcome and by what means. There are elements of doom expressed in the book.

For instance Anthony Dol man, Senior Consultant at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague writes: “It is difficult to see how small island producers can even compete with more efficient, lower cost and geog raphically less disadvantaged developing countries.”

Even those island states which in the ’7os could produce excess fish, fruit, vegetables, light manufacturing, plastics, paper and boats cannot now compete well on the world market.

The book also makes refer ence to better times in the Pacific in the pre-colonial era.

Colonists are held responsible for the decline in the range of crops and the destruction of local food systems. However it is also true that in former times, on atolls such as Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, suffering was experienced during drought periods even when coconut trees died. All was not always rosy for all Pacific is lands in the past.

But elements of hope are also expressed in the book. Mr Dolman further states that small

island countries may identify new development paths that larger developing countries may one day be forced to travel. Microstates could be come the laboratories in which alternative development strategies are shaped by self reliance. Still, such expressions of hope do not provide guide lines on how microstates will attain viability.

Chapter 6 provides the most optimistic and concrete guide lines for further development of microstates. There it is argued that the cultural background of many island developing coun tries is more conducive to the transfer of technology than other developing countries. Is land communities can be parti cularly suitable locations for offshore investment. They are largely the products of Euro pean maritime culture.

Also they have a higher pri mary and secondary school en rolment ratio than other deve loping countries of the same income level. The chapter goes on to outline the needs of Pacific islands information and techniques in market re search, management, finance, organisation and advertising. It is further claimed that island developing countries would be wise to develop on the basis of assets they have human resources.

It appears that the underlying assumption behind most of the reasoning in the book is that all must aspire to share in the Western standard of living. That assumption is debatable. It could be argued that the West ern standard of living, with all its advantages and disadvantages, is not suitable for all countries and has usually been forced on areas to ensure a market for Western goods.

Yet many would argue that the days of subsistence are over; that Island States need to enter the world economy. The Western Samoan Government states that: “Theoretically, an island country has two options.

It can remain a small, closed society at a subsistence level which would probably provide adequate quantity (not neces sarily quality) of food but none of the consumer goods, medi cines and other modern con veniences that come with eco nomic development.

“Alternatively, it can have access to these things by be coming integrated with the world economy through the promotion of the type of deve lopment which allows for greater and more beneficial ex change. In fact, the first is not really an option. There are few, if any, small societies which having had access to certain amenities have rejected them and gone back peacefully to the traditional ways of their ances tors. Having become a part of the international economy, it is then a question of preserving what is best in traditional values and developing the economy so that it becomes more reliant on trade and less on aid Other Pacific island states, however, such as Kiribati, still believe in the efficacy of a subsistence level economy. In Chapter 7, “Foreign Trade in Goods and Services” the same idea, that there are prospects for increasing self-reliance on a number of small islands, is expressed.

What appears more viable, however are schemes for col lective self-reliance and regional co-operation. This brings us around full circle to the senti ment offered in the beginning of the book that as it is easier to exploit small and isolated com munities, the way to survive is to become part of a group which can offer resistance.

No doubt many researchers will disagree with much that is in States Microstates and Is lands. Still, the book provides much stimulus for thought and reminds us that a good deal more research is needed to provide answers, however tentative, to the issues raised

Sandra Rennie.