Back

Small States & Great Power Relations: How do Caribbean SIDs Secure their Interests?

June 17, 2021
Related topics: 
International Relations

The Policy Center for the New South, in partnership with the Brussels Diplomatic Academy, will host a webinar under the theme “Small States & Great Power Relations: How do Caribbean SIDs Secure their Interests?”, scheduled on Thursday, June 17th, 2021 at 2pm Rabat time/ 3pm Brussels time. These are extraordinary and highly uncertain times. Great power rivalry and competition between the USA and China are at an all-time high; the world is still in the grips of an on-going pandemic. Post COVID-19 recovery will be a long drawn out process. In the midst of tensions between East and West there are some who argue that a bifurcation of global systems will take place as the World Order continues to evolve and global value chains experience some degree of uncoupling as a result of both the effects of the pandemic and existing geopolitical tensions. In an evolving international structure small states need all the friends they can find. They have few opportunities and weapons in the soft power tool kit with which to lobby for and protect their interests. Coalitions and alliances matter. In this era of heightened tensions during which the economic and social effects of the pandemic will be long lasting, small states such as the SIDS of the Caribbean need to tread wearily, not wishing to be caught in tensions between East or West. In such a world, how do they influence global policies and secure their interests? Can they?

Speakers
Len Ishmael
Senior Fellow
Ambassador, Dr. Len Ishmael is a Senior Fellow of the Policy Center for the New South and a Senior Fellow and Distinguished Visiting Scholar of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. She is the Global Affairs Advisor of the Brussels Diplomatic Academy and visiting Professor of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the Mohammed 6 University, Morocco. Dr. Ishmael is a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on COVID-19’s Regional Task Force for Latin America. She is the former Ambassador of the Eastern Caribbean States to the Kingdom of Belgium and European Union, and past President of the 79-member African, Caribbean & Pacific (ACP) Committee of Ambassadors in Brussels. She is a former Director & Head of the Regional Headquarters of the United Nations Economic ...
Eustace Wallace
Counsellor Political & Economic Affairs St Kitts & Nevis High Commission. Ottawa.
...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Download PDF
    Ressources naturelles et réalités géopolitiques de l’Afrique
    Authors
    Abdelhak Bassou
    May 25, 2017
    Le forum de haut niveau de Tana sur la sécurité en Afrique (22-23 Avril, 2017, Bahir Dar, Ethiopie) a choisi pour thème à sa 6e édition la question de la gouvernance des ressources naturelles en Afrique. L’une des sessions du forum avait cherché à « comprendre et à expliquer pourquoi l’exploitation de ces ressources est de plus en plus source de tension et de violence qui ont des répercussions dramatiques sur la paix et la stabilité sur le continent ». Lors des différentes intervent ...
  • Download PDF
    Africa’s natural resources and geopolitical realities
    Authors
    Abdelhak Bassou
    May 25, 2017
    For its 6th edition, the Tana High-Level Forum on Security in Africa, held in Bahir Dar on Lake Tana in Ethiopia from April 22 to 23, 2017, focused on the theme of Natural Resource Governance in Africa. One of the forum session’s key discussion points sought to "understand and explain why the exploitation of these resources is increasingly a source of tension and violence, which have dramatic repercussions on the continent’s peace and stability." During the various events throughout ...
  • Download PDF
    Europe in North Africa: Fighting Short-Termism
    Authors
    Tobias Borck
    May 17, 2017
    Europe and North Africa are bound in a strategic relationship. The stability, security and prosperity of both regions are inextricably linked. European countries - both individually and collectively (inside and outside the framework of the European Union) - have to develop a more strategic approach to their southern neighbourhood in order to overcome the current migration crisis, work with the North African states to counter violent extremism, and make the most of the many economic ...
  • La diplomatie énergétique de la Chine
    Gabrielle Desarnaud
    May 16, 2017
    Ce podcast est présenté par Mme. Gabrielle Desarnaud, chercheur au Centre Energie de l’IFRI. Un peu plus de trois ans se sont écoulés depuis le lancement des routes de la soie par le Prés ...
  • Economic Diplomacy Elevating Morocco into a Continental ‘Soft Power’
    Authors
    Michael N Mulikita
    May 6, 2017
    1. Background & Context Perhaps the most noteworthy highlight of the 2017 African Union Summit in Addis Ababa Ethiopia was the decision by the majority of AU member states to welcome back into the organization the Kingdom of Morocco after a thirty-three year absence.  It should be remembered that the Kingdom of Morocco was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963. Morocco played an assertive role in the OAU by firmly backing ...