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
    Impact of Covid-19 on african migration: Thoughts, perspectives and ways out of the blind alley
    Authors
    Amal El Ouassif
    April 14, 2020
    Africa has not been spared from the economic and political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Acting as a catalyst for decreased job opportunities at home and increased foreign-born unemployment rates in host economies, COVID-19 will most likely affect the overall economic conditions of migrants and reinforce the root causes of irregular mobility. On the political side, narratives that feed the fear of ‘outsiders’ can be easy to disseminate in times of crisis when the economy sl ...
  • Covid-19 : l’avènement d’un monde désolidarisé
    Authors
    Maha Skah
    April 13, 2020
    L’épreuve du Covid-19 bouleverse par son ampleur, alarme par ses répercussions et ses effets de ricochets, dont les contours dévastateurs commencent à se dessiner mais restent encore considérablement incertains. Favorisée par la mondialisation des transports et l’intégration croissante des économies, la propagation fulgurante du virus à plus de 200 pays et territoires à travers le monde dévoile notre vulnérabilité collective et constitue un test sans égal de la résilience des systèm ...
  • Notre continent africain aura besoin d’un important filet social de sécurité
    Authors
    Mohammed Germouni
    April 10, 2020
    Dans cette période de catastrophe planétaire, le risque d'un nombre élevé de victimes en raison de la faiblesse des systèmes de santé de nombreux Etats africains, anglophones ou francophones, est plus qu’évident pour l’observateur averti. Les circonstances actuelles interdisent des commentaires évidemment superflus sur les infrastructures médicales, globalement défaillantes. Ces insuffisances sont connues et vécues au quotidien par les populations des diverses régions du continent, ...
  • The Making of a SuperPower: How China Uses Crises to Deepen and Extend Power and Influence, in Europe & the World
    Authors
    Len Ishmael
    April 9, 2020
    Our Senior Fellow, Len Ishmael has contributed to the Quarterly Journal by Beyond the Horizon ISSG (Volume 3 Issue 1), under the theme « Influencing and Promoting Global Peace and Security Horizon Insights », with a Policy Paper where she addresses China’s use of crises to « deepen and extend power and influence in Europe and the world ». Standing in solidarity with countries in Europe and elsewhere in the fight against COVID-19, China scores a diplomatic coup and extends its claim ...
  • Download PDF
    Religious Statecraft in the Sahel
    Authors
    Hisham Aidi
    April 8, 2020
    In January 2020, French president Emmanuel Macron hosted an emergency summit for the heads of state of Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad (the G5 Sahel group). The participants agreed to set up the Coalition for the Sahel to tackle the region’s ongoing security crisis. The conflicts in the border regions of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have left more than 10,000 people dead, and displaced over a million. The French president committed an additional 600 troops to join t ...
  • Download PDF
    The War on Covid-19: the 9/11 of Health Security?
    Authors
    Salma Daoudi
    April 8, 2020
    The coronavirus pandemic represents a turning point in security studies, shedding light on the importance of the health of populations for sustaining the political, economic, and social health of the nation-state. Playing a role akin to the 9/11 events in propelling terrorism at the forefront of the global security agenda, COVID-19 reshuffles national security priorities. As such, the securitization of health has allowed the implementation of drastic exceptional measures aimed at co ...
  • Download PDF
    Un budget pour soutenir l'ambition mondiale de l'Europe dans les sept prochaines années
    Authors
    Iván Martín
    April 8, 2020
    Les 20 et 21 février, les chefs d'État ou de gouvernement de l'Union européenne ont entamé la dernière phase de négociation du cadre financier pluriannuel 2021-2027 de l'UE, le budget de l'Union pour sept ans. Bien que ce Conseil européen ait peu progressé - une longue tradition à ce stade des négociations au sein de l'UE - les discussions se sont concentrées sur les réductions proposées des fonds structurels et des fonds de soutien à la politique agricole commune, et sur le solde n ...
  • La résilience en Afrique face aux crises : Cas du Covid-19
    Authors
    Abdelhak Bassou
    April 7, 2020
    Le monde : ‘’Une société de crise’’ La multiplication de catastrophes naturelles et la montée de leur probabilité d’occurrence, la répétition des crises de tous genres (économiques, politiques, sociales et sécuritaires) et l’interdépendance accrue, du fait de la mondialisation, ont mis au premier plan le facteur de la résilience[1]. En effet, il ne s’agit plus d’évaluer le risque ou de l’anticiper, tellement sa probabilité d’occurrence s’est accrue, mais surtout de limiter les dégâ ...