ABSTRACT
Forty-three of the world's 193 sovereign states and full members of the United Nations are exclusively island or archipelagic territories. World is not made up only of sovereign units. Much less visible is an additional cluster of sub-national jurisdictions (SNJs): many of these are islands. The distinctive physical and geographic circumscription of islands- fashioned as they often are, by nature; but also artificially constructed nowadays with current technology and engineering expertise. Throughout history, islands have been locales where both nature and humankind have undertaken many interesting experiments. The world's first free 'export processing zone' (EPZ) came into being in 1937 on Staten Island, New York, USA. The model was then perfected with respect to Puerto Rico, one of the world's largest SNIJs, which still tests the aptitude for creative governance amongst US lawmakers.
