Seminar Abstract

Malta and Singapore were two small and resource-poor British island colonies with major shipyards facing uncertain futures in the late 1950s, both knowing that they were no longer strategically important possessions in the (dismantling) British Empire. In the course of the next decades, they embraced the status of sovereignty and intermittently observed each other’s progress and have referred to each other with specific development trajectories in mind.

This presentation will review some of the significant episodes of the ‘Malta-Singapore’ comparison in the past six decades, with a particular focus on the challenges that Malta faces with rampant economic growth.

About the Speaker

Godfrey Baldacchino PhD (Warwick), BA (Gen.) (Malta), PGCE (Malta), MA (The Hague) is Pro-Rector for International Development and Full Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology at the University of Malta, Malta. He is also UNESCO co-Chair in Island Studies & Sustanability (a position shared between the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), Canada and the University of Malta. He is Editor Emeritus of Island Studies Journal (ISSN: 1715-2593), now indexed in Web of Science. He served as Visiting Professor of Island Tourism at the Universita’ di Corsica Pascal Paoli, France (2012-2015). He was Member and Chair of the Malta Board of Cooperatives (1994-2003) and core member of the Malta-European Union Steering & Action Committee (MEUSAC). In 2008-2010, he was Vice-President of the Prince Edward Island Association for Newcomers to Canada. In 2014, he was elected President of the International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA). In June 2015, he was elected Chair of the Scientific Board of RETI, the global excellence network of island universities.