Contents: Introduction, Malyn Newitt; small tropical islands - a general overview, David Lowenthal; Europe's overseas territories - vestiges of colonialism or windows on the worlds, John Connell and Robert Aldrich; constitutional change, external assistance and economic development in small islands - the case of Montserrat, David Marlow; alternative forms of decolonization in the East Caribbean - the comparative politics of the non-Sovereign Islands, Fred Constant; France's love children? the French overseas departments, Helen M. Hintjenns; the perils of being a microstate - Sao Tome and the Comoros Islands since independence, Malyn Newitt; the Mascareignes, the Seychelles and the Chagos, islands with a French connection - security in a decolonized Indian Ocean, Jean Houbert; towards an alternative development policy for Sao Tome and Principe, Henrique Pinto Da Costa; micro-states, increasing integration and awkward imperatives of adjustment - the case of the Republic of the Maldives, Mike Faber; the federated states of Micronesia - is there a pacific way to avoid a Mirab society?, John Cameron.