Tourism Dependency & Environmental Injustice in Island Economies

Abstract: Tourism-led development is widely promoted as a strategy for economic growth in small island economies. However, persistent environmental degradation and the uneven distribution of benefits raise questions about its justice and sustainability. This paper examines how global tourism governance structures shape environmental vulnerability in island economies, using Bali as a primary case with comparative reference to other tourism-dependent islands. Drawing on Barnett and Duvall’s (2005) framework of power in global governance, the study argues that tourism dependency operates through structural and productive forms of power that position islands as leisure peripheries within the global economy. While tourism expansion strengthens foreign exchange earnings and macroeconomic performance, it may simultaneously reconfigure ecological governance in ways that reduce long-term environmental autonomy. The paper advances the concept of the sovereignty paradox, defined as the condition in which strategies pursued to secure economic sovereignty through tourism intensification generate forms of ecological dependence that constrain future policy choices. Empirically, the analysis traces patterns of resort expansion, foreign investment concentration, and environmental stress in Bali. Normatively, Rawls’s (1999) difference principle is applied to evaluate whether tourism-generated inequalities benefit the least advantaged communities. The findings suggest that tourism dependency reflects a structural pattern of environmental risk distribution embedded in global governance dynamics rather than isolated local mismanagement. The paper contributes to debates on development, power, and environmental justice in the Global South.