The global financial crisis and its aftermath: economic and political recalibration in the non-sovereign Caribbean

ABSTRACT

The small non-sovereign island jurisdictions (SNIJs) of the Caribbean have a privileged position in the global political economy, with significant political and economic autonomy on the one hand, and useful protections and support structures provided by their metropolitan powers on the other. However, the global financial and economic crisis of 2007–2008 highlighted starkly some of the fragilities of this privileged status; in particular their economic vulnerability and the unequal and often fractious relationship with their metropolitan powers. This article considers the British, Dutch, French, and US jurisdictions and the short- and longer-term impacts of the crisis. The article’s key concern is to assess the extent to which the instability in the global economy over the last decade has affected both the economic and political dynamic of these jurisdictions, and to what extent their unique position in the global political economy has been compromised.

RESUMEN

Las pequeñas jurisdicciones no soberanas del Caribe (SNIJs) del Caribe, tienen una posición privilegiada en la economía política global. De un lado gozan de autonomía política y económica significativa, y del otro gozan de protecciones y estructuras de apoyo provistas por sus metrópolis. No obstante, la crisis financiera global de 2007-08 hizo evidente algunas de las fragilidades de este status privilegiado—en particular su vulnerabilidad económica y su relación desigual y fragmentada con sus poderes metropolitanos. Este artículo considera las jurisdicciones inglesas, holandesas, francesas y estadounidenses y los impactos de la crisis a corto y largo plazo. El objetivo central del artículo es evaluar en qué medida la inestabilidad de la economía global durante la pasada década ha afectado la dinámica económica y política de estas jurisdicciones y en qué medida se ha perjudicado su posición única en la economía política global.

KEYWORDS:

• Caribbean
• non-sovereign territories
• autonomy
• economic reform
• vulnerability
• constitutional change
• metropolitan activism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Clegg

Peter Clegg is Associate Head of Department for Research and a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations in the Department of Health and Social Sciences at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. He was also formerly a Research Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, The University of the West Indies, Jamaica, and at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden. Recent publications include: Grenada: Revolution and Invasion (with Patsy Lewis and Gary Williams, Ian Randle Publishers, 2015) and Governance in the Non-Independent Caribbean: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century (with Emilio Pantojas-Garcia, Ian Randle Publishers, 2009).

Justin Daniel

Justin Daniel is Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Economics of Martinique and Director of the Research Center on local authorities in the Caribbean (CRPLC). He was Vice-Chairman of the Scientific Council of the University of the French West Indies and Guiana from 2009 to 2012, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Economics of Martinique from November 2006 to November 2009 and Deputy Director of the Doctoral School UAG from November 2013 to August 2015. He has published widely on the Caribbean and the overseas departments of France. Recent publications include: Les outre-mer à l’épreuve du changement: réalités et perspectives des réformes territoriales (L’Harmattan, 2011) and articles in Informations sociales and Revue française de finances publiques.

Emilio Pantojas-García

Emilio Pantojas-Garcia is a Researcher at the Center for Social Research and Professor of the Sociology graduate program. He specializes in political sociology and economic development in the Caribbean Basin. He was Director of the Graduate School of Business Administration (2006–2010) at the University of Puerto Rico, and President of the Association of Caribbean Studies (2004–2005). Recent publications include: Crónicas del colapso: economía, política y sociedad de Puerto Rico en el siglo veintiuno (Ediciones Callejon, 2015) and Governance in the Non-Independent Caribbean: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21st Century (with Peter Clegg, Ian Randle Publishers, 2009)

Wouter Veenendaal

Wouter Veenendaal is an assistant professor at the Institute of Leiden University, The Netherlands. His research focuses on politics and democracy in small states. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, where he studied the impact of the new municipal status of the smallest Dutch Caribbean islands on the opinions and behavior of local citizens, public servants, and politicians. Recent publications include: Politics and Democracy in Microstates (Routledge, 2015) and articles in the Island Studies Journal and Comparative Political Studies.