From the triangular trade to (N)AFTA: A neostructuralist insight into missed Caribbean opportunities

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 17, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 427-454

  Marshall, Don D ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES   (Jamaica)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING REGION; DEVELOPMENT FAILURE; FOREIGN INVESTMENT; FREE TRADE AGREEMENT; REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT; STATE POWER;

CARIBBEAN;

EID: 0030423416     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01436599615443     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. I refer to the 13 territories that were colonised by Britain by the end of the 19th century, namely, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
2. See the Summit of the Americas Declaration of Principles (December 1994) signed by 34 nations in the Americas, including the USA and Canada.
3. I take development here to mean the transformation away from a low-accumulation based economy (ie based on raw material and cash crop exports) to a high-accumulation one (ie predominantly based on cutting-edge industrial exports and processes).
4. Weber refers to these processes as existing in and across 'ancient civilizations'. As Weber puts it: 'Now in this sense capitalism and capitalistic enterprises, even with a considerable rationalization of capitalistic calculation, have existed in all civilized countries of the earth, so far as economic documents permit us to judge. In China, India, Babylon, Egypt, Mediterranean antiquity, and the Middle Ages, as well as in modern times. These were not mere isolated ventures, but economic enterprises which were entirely dependent on the continual renewal of capitalistic undertakings, and even continuous operations.' See M Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, London: Allen and Unwin, 1930, p 19.
5. For more on this see R P Palan & B K Gills (eds), Transcending the State-Global Divide: A Neostructuralist Agenda in International Relations, Boulder CO: Lynne Rienner, 1994.
6. See J Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350, New York: Oxford University Press, 1989; C A Diop, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology, New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1990; and A G Frank & B K Gills (eds), The World System: Five Hundred Years or Five Thousand?, London: Routledge, 1993.
7. See J Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350, New York: Oxford University Press, 1989; C A Diop, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology, New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1990; and A G Frank & B K Gills (eds), The World System: Five Hundred Years or Five Thousand?, London: Routledge, 1993.
8. See J Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350, New York: Oxford University Press, 1989; C A Diop, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology, New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1990; and A G Frank & B K Gills (eds), The World System: Five Hundred Years or Five Thousand?, London: Routledge, 1993.
9. See S Amin, Delinking, London: Zed Books, 1990; I Wallerstein, Geopolitics and Geoculture Essays on the Changing World-System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991; and H Addo, Imperialism: The Permanent Stage of Capitalism, Tokyo: United Nations University, 1986.
10. See S Amin, Delinking, London: Zed Books, 1990; I Wallerstein, Geopolitics and Geoculture Essays on the Changing World-System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991; and H Addo, Imperialism: The Permanent Stage of Capitalism, Tokyo: United Nations University, 1986.
11. See S Amin, Delinking, London: Zed Books, 1990; I Wallerstein, Geopolitics and Geoculture Essays on the Changing World-System, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991; and H Addo, Imperialism: The Permanent Stage of Capitalism, Tokyo: United Nations University, 1986.
12. See I Wallerstein, The Modern World-System, Vol 1, New York: Academic Books, 1980; and A G Frank, Dependent Accumulation and Underdevelopment, London: Macmillan Press, 1978.
13. See I Wallerstein, The Modern World-System, Vol 1, New York: Academic Books, 1980; and A G Frank, Dependent Accumulation and Underdevelopment, London: Macmillan Press, 1978.
14. Frank places Australia, Canada and New Zealand in the developed category, whereas Wallerstein sees these as countries at the semi-periphery.
15. See D Brautigam, 'What can Africa learn from Taiwan? Political economy, industrial policy and adjustment', The Journal of Modern African Studies, 32(1), 1994, pp 111-138; and B Balassa, New Directions in the World Economy, New York: New York University Press, 1989.
16. See D Brautigam, 'What can Africa learn from Taiwan? Political economy, industrial policy and adjustment', The Journal of Modern African Studies, 32(1), 1994, pp 111-138; and B Balassa, New Directions in the World Economy, New York: New York University Press, 1989.
17. See, for example, F C Deyo, The Political Economy of the New Asian Industrialism, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1987; and S Haggard, Pathways from the Periphery: The Politics of Growth in the Newly Industrializing Countries, Ithaca, NT: Cornell University Press, 1990.
18. See, for example, F C Deyo, The Political Economy of the New Asian Industrialism, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1987; and S Haggard, Pathways from the Periphery: The Politics of Growth in the Newly Industrializing Countries, Ithaca, NT: Cornell University Press, 1990.
19. See A Smith, The Wealth of Nations, New York: E P Dutton, 1910:.
20. See N G Mankiw, 'The growth of nations', in W C Brainard & G L Perry (eds), Breakings Papers on Economic Activity: 25th Anniversary Issue, 1, Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution. 1995, p 297.
21. See the collection of essays in P N Rosentein-Rodan, J N Bhagwati & R S Eckaus (eds), Development and Planning: Essays in Honour of P N Rosenstein-Rodan, London: Allen and Unwin, 1972. Also see, H De Soto, The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World, New York: Harper and Row, 1989; and J Sachs, 'Poland and Eastern Europe: What is to be done?', in A Koves & P Marer (eds), Foreign Economic Liberalisation: Transformations in Socialist and Market Economies, Boulder, CO: Westview, 1991.
22. See the collection of essays in P N Rosentein-Rodan, J N Bhagwati & R S Eckaus (eds), Development and Planning: Essays in Honour of P N Rosenstein-Rodan, London: Allen and Unwin, 1972. Also see, H De Soto, The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World, New York: Harper and Row, 1989; and J Sachs, 'Poland and Eastern Europe: What is to be done?', in A Koves & P Marer (eds), Foreign Economic Liberalisation: Transformations in Socialist and Market Economies, Boulder, CO: Westview, 1991.
23. See the collection of essays in P N Rosentein-Rodan, J N Bhagwati & R S Eckaus (eds), Development and Planning: Essays in Honour of P N Rosenstein-Rodan, London: Allen and Unwin, 1972. Also see, H De Soto, The Other Path: The Invisible Revolution in the Third World, New York: Harper and Row, 1989; and J Sachs, 'Poland and Eastern Europe: What is to be done?', in A Koves & P Marer (eds), Foreign Economic Liberalisation: Transformations in Socialist and Market Economies, Boulder, CO: Westview, 1991.
24. Sachs tells us that the stabilisation program he designed for Poland presupposed the creation of a new legal system and a secure system of property rights, all of which he expected to be completed in one year. See Sachs, 'Poland and Eastern Europe', p 236.
25. See Z Onis, 'The logic of the developmental state', Comparative Politics, 24(1), 1991, pp 109-121.
26. See C Johnson, MITI and the Japanese Miracle, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1982; G White, 'Developmental states and socialist industrialisation in the Third World', Journal of Development Studies, 21(1), 1984, pp 97-120; and F List, The National System of Political Economy, London: Longman, 1964.
27. See C Johnson, MITI and the Japanese Miracle, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1982; G White, 'Developmental states and socialist industrialisation in the Third World', Journal of Development Studies, 21(1), 1984, pp 97-120; and F List, The National System of Political Economy, London: Longman, 1964.
28. See C Johnson, MITI and the Japanese Miracle, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1982; G White, 'Developmental states and socialist industrialisation in the Third World', Journal of Development Studies, 21(1), 1984, pp 97-120; and F List, The National System of Political Economy, London: Longman, 1964.
29. See R Wade, Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990.
30. Classical trade-cycle economists like Kitchin referred to a 40-month cycle of trading booms; Juglar on the other hand spoke of an 8-10 year cycle of world economic expansion since 1789. As discussed by J A Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profit, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle, New York: Oxford University Press, 1934.
31. See N Bousquet, 'From hegemony to competition: cycles of the core', in T K Hopkins & I Wallerstein (eds), Processes of the World System. Volume 3, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1980, pp 46-83.
32. See A Bergesen, 'Cycles of formal colonial rule' in ibid, pp 119-126.
33. Goldstein discusses Levy's (1983) War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495-1975. See J Goldstein, Long Cycles, Prosperity and War in the Modern Age, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.
34. Goldstein discusses Levy's (1983) War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495-1975. See J Goldstein, Long Cycles, Prosperity and War in the Modern Age, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.
35. Ibid. Goldstein discusses and refers to Kondratieff's ± 50 year cycle.
36. For a discussion of Korea's 'structural opportunity', see B K Gills, 'The international origins of South Korea's export orientation', in Palan & Gills, Transcending the State-Global Divide, pp 203-222.
37. For more on conducive social structures, see S Haggard, Pathways from the Periphery.
38. See E Friedman (ed.), 'Introduction', in Ascent and Decline in the World-System, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1982.
39. See G M Walton & J F Shepherd, The Economic Rise of Early America, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
40. See L Jorberg, 'The Industrial Revolution in the Nordic countries 1850-1914', in C M Cipolla (ed.), The Fontana Economic History of Europe, Vol 4, Part 2, 1973, pp 378-383.
41. For more on the governance of British Caribbean islands, see A Hart, 'Causeries', Monthly Comments, 1(15), p 9.
42. See S Mintz, 'The Caribbean as a socio-cultural area'. Journal of World History, IX(4), 1996, p 915.
43. See E Williams, Capitalism and Slavery, New York: Capricorn Books, 1966.
44. See E Williams, From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492-1969, London: Deutsch, 1970, p 155.
45. See E Williams, 'Capitalism and slavery', in H Beckles & V Shepherd (eds) Caribbean Slave Society and Economy, Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers and James Currey Publishers, p 123, 1991.
46. See J R Ward, 'The profitability of sugar planting in the British West Indies 1650-1834', in ibid, pp 81-93.
47. Following the Seven Years War, Britain acquired from the French the islands of Dominica, St Vincent, Tobago and St Lucia (circa 1763).
48. See R C Batie, 'Why sugar'? Economic cycles and the changing staples in the English and French Antilles 1624-1654', in Beckles & Shepherd, Caribbean Slave Society and Economy, pp 37-55.
49. Williams 'Capitalism and slavery', p 123.
50. Seymour Drescher notes that Demerra alone received £15 million investment from Britain. See S Drescher, 'The decline thesis of British slavery since econocide', in Beckles & Shepherd, Caribbean Slave Society and Economy, pp 136-149.
51. See R Dunn, Sugar and Slaves: The Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies 1624-1713, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1972.
52. See R Sheridan, The Development of the Plantations to 1750, Kingston: Caribbean University Press, 1970.
53. In St Kitts, Montserrat and St Lucia, production throughout the 17th century was interrupted by rivalry between Britain, France and Holland. Richardson notes that, as a consequence, plantation records in these areas were not kept up to date. See B C Richardson, The Caribbean in the Wider World 1492-1992. A Regional Geography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp 38-70.
54. See Williams, From Columbus to Castro; and Richardson, The Caribbean in the Wider World 1492-1992.
55. Batie 'Why sugar?' p 37.
56. During the reign of Charles II, the Navigation Act outlined the economic management terms of all Colonial assemblies in the British Caribbean. Free trade between any of the colonies and the Dutch was prohibited; planters were required to send their sugar and other cargoes to England in English ships and purchase slaves only from English traders. In return, Britain granted the colonies protected and guaranteed commodity markets for its raw materials (sugar, tropical produce, rum, etc).
57. See M Elvin, The Pattern of the Chinese Past, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1973, pp 298-315.
58. See R Cameron, A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, pp 41-43.
59. These were adopted to encourage greater in-breeding by creole slaves.
60. See H Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
61. See K G Davies, 'The origins of the commission system in the West India trade', in Beckles & Shepherd, Caribbean Slave Society and Economy, p 103.
62. Also see W Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, London: Penguin Books, 1972, p 97.
63. Ibid. p 98.
64. Ward, 'The profitability of sugar planting in the British West Indies 1650-1834', p 81.
65. Drescher cites Barbara Solow from a contribution she made at the Bellagio Conference on British Slavery and British Capitalism. See S Drescher 'The decline thesis of British slavery since econocide, p 140.
66. See G K Lewis, Growth of the Modern West Indies, London: Macgibbon and Kee, 1968.
67. See J Lie, 'Embedding Polanyi's market society', Sociological Perspectives, 34, 1991, pp 219-235.
68. See L Best & K Levitt, 'Outlines of a model of pure plantation economy', Social and Economic Studies, 17(3), 1968, pp 283-326; and G Beckford, Persistent Poverty: Underdevelopment in Plantation Economies of the Third World, Morant Bay and London: Maroon Publishing House and Zed Press, 1972.
69. See L Best & K Levitt, 'Outlines of a model of pure plantation economy', Social and Economic Studies, 17(3), 1968, pp 283-326; and G Beckford, Persistent Poverty: Underdevelopment in Plantation Economies of the Third World, Morant Bay and London: Maroon Publishing House and Zed Press, 1972.
70. See The Economist, 9 July 1989.
71. For a use of this term, see B K Gills, 'International Relations theory and the processes of world history: three approaches', in H C Dyer & L Mangasarian (eds), The Study of International Relations: The State of the Art, Basingstoke: Macmillan and Millennium, 1989, pp 103-154.
72. This is with the exception of Bermuda, where the wealthy elite moved to influence the wider populace against independence, citing economic ruin. For more on this, see G K Lewis, Growth of the Modern West Indies and S Ryan, 'Politics in an artificial society: the case of Bermuda' in V A Lewis (ed.) Size, Self-Detemtination and International Relations: The Caribbean, Mona Campus, Jamaica: Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1976, pp 180-202.
73. This is with the exception of Bermuda, where the wealthy elite moved to influence the wider populace against independence, citing economic ruin. For more on this, see G K Lewis, Growth of the Modern West Indies and S Ryan, 'Politics in an artificial society: the case of Bermuda' in V A Lewis (ed.) Size, Self-Detemtination and International Relations: The Caribbean, Mona Campus, Jamaica: Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1976, pp 180-202.
74. For an outline of the plantation dependency thesis, see Best & Levitt ' Outlines of a model of pure plantation economy'; and Beckford, Persistant Poverty. Recent work along these lines includes, K McAffee, Storm Signals: Structural Adjustment and Development Alternatives in the Caribbean, London: Zed Press; and W Charles-Soverall & N C Duncan, 'The enduring legacy of the plantation economy model: the next paradigm'. Paper 14, St Augustine: University of the West Indies, 1994.
75. For an outline of the plantation dependency thesis, see Best & Levitt ' Outlines of a model of pure plantation economy'; and Beckford, Persistant Poverty. Recent work along these lines includes, K McAffee, Storm Signals: Structural Adjustment and Development Alternatives in the Caribbean, London: Zed Press; and W Charles-Soverall & N C Duncan, 'The enduring legacy of the plantation economy model: the next paradigm'. Paper 14, St Augustine: University of the West Indies, 1994.
76. For an outline of the plantation dependency thesis, see Best & Levitt ' Outlines of a model of pure plantation economy'; and Beckford, Persistant Poverty. Recent work along these lines includes, K McAffee, Storm Signals: Structural Adjustment and Development Alternatives in the Caribbean, London: Zed Press; and W Charles-Soverall & N C Duncan, 'The enduring legacy of the plantation economy model: the next paradigm'. Paper 14, St Augustine: University of the West Indies, 1994.
77. For an outline of the plantation dependency thesis, see Best & Levitt ' Outlines of a model of pure plantation economy'; and Beckford, Persistant Poverty. Recent work along these lines includes, K McAffee, Storm Signals: Structural Adjustment and Development Alternatives in the Caribbean, London: Zed Press; and W Charles-Soverall & N C Duncan, 'The enduring legacy of the plantation economy model: the next paradigm'. Paper 14, St Augustine: University of the West Indies, 1994.
78. The socialist experiments in Guyana under Forbes Burnham (1968-1980), Jamaica Under Michael Manley (1972-1980) and Grenada under Maurice Bishop (1979-1983) are the most celebrated cases of this populist strategy. Nevertheless, it is important to note that Eastern Caribbean island governments, and the Antiguan, Bermudian and Trinidadian governments (1960-1985) grounded their development programmes on a redistributive and populist ethos. Social welfare measures, the expansion of consumption, appeals for social/racial harmony. and jobs development strategies (eg de-bushing campaigns, crash programmes, and the promotion of their sites to foreign capital as labour-intensive, cheap industrial platforms) were the elements that defined their brand of populist development. As Thomas indicates, the lines between the goals of the 'socialist' Caribbean governments and other Caribbean ones (whether achieved or not), were not great at all. See C Y Thomas, The Poor and the Powerless: Economic Policy and Change in the Caribbean, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1988.
79. The Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status and the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) are two schemes whereby developed countries' tariffs on imports from developing countries are either modified or reduced. The Lomé Convention is another scheme of similar type.
80. For information on the Heckscher-Ohlin principle see G Bannock, R E Baxter & E Davis, Dictionary of Economics, London: Hutchinson Business Books & The Economist Books, 1987, p 187.
81. See E Jones, 'Bureaucracy as a problem-solving mechanism in small states: a review in terms of the current literature', in Lewis, Size, Self-Determination and International Relations, pp 73-97; and P Merton, 'The changing pattern of state control in St Vincent and the Grenadines', in F Ambursley & R Cohen (eds), Crisis in the Caribbean, Kingston: Heinemann, 1983.
82. See E Jones, 'Bureaucracy as a problem-solving mechanism in small states: a review in terms of the current literature', in Lewis, Size, Self-Determination and International Relations, pp 73-97; and P Merton, 'The changing pattern of state control in St Vincent and the Grenadines', in F Ambursley & R Cohen (eds), Crisis in the Caribbean, Kingston: Heinemann, 1983.
83. See D Worrell, 'Comparative experience of Caricom countries', in G Beckford & N Girvan (eds) Development in Suspense: Selected Papers and Proceedings of the First Conference of Caribbean Economists, Kingston: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 1989, pp 63-87.
84. Ibid, p. 63, 64.
85. This is used in the lining of furnaces for steel-making. Guyana attracted a high price for this commodity in the US market.
86. See D Worrell 'Comparitive experience', p 68.
87. See W A Samuel, 'Government finances in the OECS countries', in N C Duncan (ed.), Public Finance and Fiscal Issues in Barbados and the OECS, Wildey, Barbados: Caribbean Graphics and Letchworth, pp 3-27.
88. See G Belle, 'Public Finance: a new direction', in Duncan, Public Finance, p 86.
89. The global debt crisis that affected most low-accumulation economies (ie most Second World and Third World countries) came about following the price explosions of the two oil shocks, and the post-1979 meteoric rise in interest rates on international lending capital.
90. See D Worrell, 'Investment in the Caribbean', Social and Economic Studies, 42(2 & 3), 1993, pp 243-259.
91. See A Wood, 'Improving the contribution of finance to the growth process in Barbados: is financial liberalisation a desirable option?, Social and Economic Studies, 43(4), 1994, p 7.
92. See M Dixon, 'The world capitalist crisis and the rise of the right', in Contemporary Marxism, 3, 1982, pp 46-59.
93. See B Crawford, 'The new security dilemma under international economic interdependence', Millennium, 23(1), 1994, pp 25-55.
94. See H Watson, 'Coalition security development: military industrial restructuring in the United States and military electronics production in the Caribbean', in M M Quinones & P J Rivera (eds), Caribbean Studies: Special Issue on Caribbean Economy, 24(1-2), p 232.
95. Ibid. Watson cites a Caspar Weinberger 1985 commissioned report done by the National Defense University entitled, 'Electronics Industry and the Caribbean Basin'.
96. Section 936 fund allocation was brought into the CBI framework to assist in the technical development of particular economic sectors/projects. To be sure it is part of the US International Revenue Service Tax Code that allows for revenues derived from tax exemptions to US corporations in Puerto Rico to be invested at Puerto Rico's initiative in CBI countries under twin plant or joint arrangements. At least 30% of all 936 funds must be invested in the Government of Puerto Rico and the Government Development Bank. See Watson 'Coalition security development'.
97. Ibid. Watson cites P Steel, The Caribbean Clothing Industry: The United States and Far Eastern Connection, 1988.
98. Ibid. Watson cites P Steel, The Caribbean Clothing Industry: The United States and Far Eastern Connection, 1988.
99. For more on international restructuring, see W Ruigrok & R van Tulder, The Logic of International Restructuring, London: Routledge, 1995.
100. See A Quijano & I Wallerstein, 'Americanity as a concept, or the Americas in the modern world-system', International Social Science Journal, 134, 1992, pp 549-559.
101. As indicated by A Payne, 'US hegemony and the reconfiguration of the Caribbean', Review of International Studies, 20(2), 1994, pp 149-168.
102. That is, promoting a development plan based on coopting labour, innovative policy measures and providing collective services and subsidies to efficient entrepreneurs, industries and sectors.
103. These include St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenada, Dominica and Antigua.