This book focuses on the experience of six North Atlantic, cold-water islands boasting distinct constitutional arrangements. These range from full sovereignty (Iceland), to federation (Prince Edward Island; Newfoundland and Labrador), to federacy or home rule status (Faroe Islands; Isle of Man; Åland Islands). It explores how constitutional, political, and cultural features of these islands are deployed in strategic economic thinking and planning, leading these jurisdictions to craft a real "political economy."

The comparative interplay of economic and juridical resources is taken up in relation to four major economic domains: the primary sector; small-scale manufacturing; export of knowledge-based services; and tourism. In the outcome, practical "best practice" proposals are suggested.

The book shows the "gift of jurisdiction" as a strategy enabler, with law and public policy serving as the fuel for development in a decentralizing globalized world offering loopholes or special arrangements to exploit.