Charting Caribbean Development

Payne, Anthony and Paul Sutton (eds.). Charting Caribbean Development. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2001. 284 pp.

What are the obstacles to the modernization of the English Caribbean and how have some countries managed to address these impediments? These are the questions that Anthony Payne and Paul Sutton have raised in their latest volume on the Caribbean. As the authors rightly mention, these are difficult questions to answer because the Caribbean has been influenced by two major forces that have symbolized the essence of modernization: the European Union and the United States. Both powers have conflicting approaches toward the modernization of the Caribbean. As a result it has been difficult for Caribbean countries to follow a common strategy in their quest to modernize their societies.

After World War II, the concept of development became a preoccupying concern for Caribbean governments. Each country that became independent attempted to diversify its economy to overcome the traditional Caribbean problem of dependency on its agricultural sector. The policy to create a diversified economy also raised the expectations of each country's citizens. In a case by case approach of the countries that have attempted to diversify their economies, the authors argue that when leaders decide to implement policies that can change their economic status vis-à-vis the interests of European or U.S multinational corporations, they are forced to choose between an offensive strategy that takes on the challenge to the competitive thrust of national industries, or a defensive posture which forces them to withdraw from world competition in some sector. As a result Caribbean states have never been able to fully implement a comprehensive development strategy. Moreover, local and international politics have greatly affected the capacity of national leaders to undertake major economic initiatives. Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Grenada are examples of how foreign interference and the political context can seriously affect the developmental goals of the Caribbean states.

Dr. Eric Williams, who became the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago soon after its independence, adopted a strategy to move Trinidad and Tobago from a strictly oil exporting state to a diversified economy. Using revenues from oil exports, the government moved to create two fertilizer plants and an iron and steel plant that would provide the basis for other industries and manufactures to develop in Trinidad. The project encountered significant opposition in the country. Although many of the industrial projects were financed by the government in the 1970s, they did not necessarily change the economy of Trinidad. By the end of the 1980s, the petroleum sector remained the dominant part of the country's economy.

Jamaica, under the leadership of Michael Manley, became in the 1970s and early 80s a major laboratory for Third World countries that wanted to move from dependency on monoculture to a diversified economy, while attempting to address some of the pressing social problems of the population. Manley who led the People's National Party in Jamaica between 1972 and 1980 introduced a development strategy called the Third Path which was neither communist nor capitalist. The strategy consisted of three basic commitments: the creation of an economy that would be less dependent on foreign control and more responsive to the needs of the majority of the Jamaican people; the creation of policies that would provide equal access for all citizens of Jamaica through investments in the social sector; and political reforms through devolution of power at the local level.

Manley advocated the Third Path to create the necessary conditions for Jamaica to move from its dependency on bauxite export to a diversified economy. There was a swift negative reaction to Manley's policy on the part of the United States, the World Bank and the local elite whose economic well-being depended on the importation of manufactured products. In 1980, Michael Manley's government was defeated through a systematic destabilization campaign by the United States and the local elite.

Grenada is another interesting case that the authors address in the book. Following a revolution by the New Jewel Movement in March 1979 that overthrew the government of Eric Gairy, the new leaders established a revolutionary government that was sympathetic to Cuba and the Soviet Union and whose vision was to create a non-capitalist society. Despite the rhetoric of creating a non-capitalist society, the revolutionary leadership under the auspices of Maurice Bishop continued to deal with the private sector to boost production in agriculture, tourism and manufacturing and it also sought the help of the IMF to deal with Grenada's enormous cash-flow problems. In less than five years into the revolution, the government had encountered serious problems in the main sector of the economy, and its strategy of creating an alternative to a neo-liberal market economy was failing. As the Central Committee of the New Jewel Movement was grappling with these issues, the revolution took a dramatic turn with the assassination of Maurice Bishop by the group that supported Bernard Coard. The dissension within the party led to the American invasion in 1983 which ultimately put an end to the Grenadian experiment.