The next Island Studies Lecture is Tuesday, March 14, at 7:00 pm in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building. Dr. Peter Buker will speak about scale and governance, including its effects on small islands such as Prince Edward Island.

The relation between a political jurisdiction’s scale and how well (or poorly) its government performs is seldom addressed in scholarly literature or in practice. However, scale does affect governance. This lecture addresses the question: how do size factors of population and geography relate to accountability and responsibility to efficiency and effectiveness? Citing political theory, public administration, economics, and social “small-scale” literature, and taking into account technological advances, Dr. Buker will focus on how scale applies to governance. The implications, especially for small island jurisdictions such as Prince Edward Island, are many. For example, the case for and against Maritime Union can be explored by looking at the tension between small governing systems supporting reciprocal relations between their citizens and their government and large governing systems supporting one-way command relations.

Dr. Peter Buker is chair of General Studies at Yorkville University. He has a widely varied academic background in economics, politics, and community economic development, and considers scale to be one of the most important single factors affecting our experience as citizens. Admission to the lecture is free. All are welcome to attend. For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902) 894-2881.