Preface

• Author: Peter Clegg/Emilio Pantojas-García
• Profession: Senior lecturer of politics and international relations at the University of the West of England, Bristol/Political sociologist and has published widely on Caribbean economic development
• Pages: 17-20

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- PREFACE -

Governance in the Non-Independent Caribbean: Challenges and

Opportunities in the Twenty-First Century brings together the perspectives

of scholars and officials from Europe and the Caribbean to provide a

much-needed international, comparative and interdisciplinary perspective

on the status and performance of the non-independent territories in the

Caribbean. Various islands in the Caribbean region have not yet gained

independent status. They still have constitutional relationships with

former colonial mother countries, be it the Caribbean Overseas Territories

with the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba

with the Netherlands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands with the

United States (US), and Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyane

with France. The status of the non-independent Caribbean remains

problematic. None of the islands wish to stand on their own as sovereign

states, but many are also dissatisfied with the status quo. In particular,

the territories have surrendered aspects of their political, economic and

cultural identities to external centres of power, leading to a complex and

sometimes unsatisfactory state of affairs in both the territories and their

metropoles. As independence does not seem like a viable option for the

majority of the islands’ electorates, this book assesses the performance of

the present political, economic and social arrangements, and suggests

possible revisions to systems that, despite their problems, still retain

support.

In doing so a format of analysis is used that goes beyond the old

landscape of ‘colonies’ and ‘independent states’, because neither of these

concepts can truly reflect the relationships that exist today. Rather, the

book utilises the current debates in political science, international

relations, international political economy, and development studies to

create a framework of analysis to consider trends within the non-

independent Caribbean. Some authors also utilise the disciplines of

economics, law, history, sociology, and anthropology to illustrate their

arguments. Through these approaches the book highlights the nature of

the different relationships in place, and the effectiveness of those

PREFACE