Caribbean Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The Caribbean is a geographical region of the Americas consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands, and the surroundings coasts. Politically, the Caribbean consists of thirty-four territories, including sovereign states, departments, and dependencies. The total population of the region is about 37 million, with about 90 percent of the population situated in the region’s sovereign states. While the countries of the Caribbean demonstrate a great deal of social, ethnic, and cultural diversity, they also share many common economic and political features that have defined their contemporary struggle for development. These features include a common history as plantation and slave societies, a shared dependence on agriculture (especially sugar), a relatively similar population and market size, and a long and difficult struggle for independence.

Settlement

By the late sixteenth century, Spain, England, France, and the Dutch had colonized most islands in the Caribbean. The temperate climate of the new colonies was particularly conducive to the development of lucrative agricultural exports, such as sugar. Thus, by the late seventeenth century, a lucrative plantation economy had developed in the region. As the European demand for Caribbean sugar exports increased over time, the demand for new sources of cheap plantation labor in the Caribbean also increased. In order to meet these demands, the colonizers turned to the slave trade in the eighteenth century. Massive numbers of African slaves were imported and sent to work on Caribbean plantations. Although slave revolts were common during this period, most were quickly suppressed. By the nineteenth century, most Caribbean territories had abandoned slavery as a practice. However, the legacy of African slavery continues to shape contemporary life and politics in the Caribbean.

Sovereignty And Independence

Nationalism emerged in the Caribbean during the late nineteenth century. After a long and protracted struggle, all of the former Spanish colonies in the Caribbean had achieved independence by the year 1900, although Puerto Rico remains a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States. As citizens of a self-governing territory, Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship, are entitled to vote at the federal level, and are subject to U.S. federal law. While Puerto Rico enjoys administrative autonomy similar to that of a U.S. state, it is not a state of the American union and has no voting representative in the U.S. Congress.

Suriname is the only Dutch colony to achieve independence as of 2007. The Netherlands’s other former colonies, namely Aruba and the islands comprising the Netherlands Antilles (Saint Maarten, Curacao, Saba, Bonaire, and Saint Eustatius) are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Aruba’s governor is appointed by the Dutch monarch and serves as the de facto head of state. However, real executive authority in Aruba rests with the prime minister and parliament, which consists of twenty-one members elected by direct, popular vote. The Netherlands Antilles is a decentralized unitary state consisting of a governor and an elected Council of Ministers, headed by a prime minister. As a unified political entity, the Netherlands Antilles was scheduled to dissolve in 2008. However, dissolution of the Antilles has been postponed pending further negotiation regarding the future status of the territories.

Haiti, a former French colony, was the first country in the Caribbean to achieve independence in 1791 through a slave revolt led by Toussaint L’Ouverture. In a cruel twist of irony, it is the only French colony to achieve independence to date and it was already the poorest of all Caribbean countries when a 2010 earthquake devastated the capital Port au Prince and the surrounding area, killing hundreds of thousands.

The British case varies, with Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, and Guyana achieving independence in the mid-twentieth century. Today, several islands remain British Overseas Territories, including Anguilla, Montserrat, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos. These territories are under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, but do not form part of the United Kingdom itself. Inhabitants have British citizenship, and the monarch appoints a governor to serve as de facto head of state for each territory, but the governor exercises little power over local affairs, which are governed instead by an elected parliament.

Like Haiti, many of the Caribbean islands that achieved independence, such as Guyana and Suriname, are also amongst the poorest in the region. In contrast, British Overseas Territories, such as the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, along with Aruba, boast the highest per capita incomes and account for 56 percent of the region’s income. This trend has discouraged some islands from seeking total independence.

The Economy

A significant economic challenge for most Caribbean states and territories has been to break their dependence on primary agricultural exports, most notably sugar. Traditionally, Caribbean countries have relied heavily on a system of preferential access to European markets for export commodities such as sugar and bananas. Reliance on this export sector has limited financial returns, wages, industrialization, and regional competitiveness in global markets to the extent that, today, most Caribbean countries have large and persistent trade deficits. However, some countries have successfully diversified their markets. Curacao, Aruba, and Trinidad and Tobago have begun producing or refining oil. Guyana, Suriname, and Jamaica have developed their mining sectors. Puerto Rico is developing its manufacturing sector. The Cayman Islands, Aruba, and Curacao have developed a lucrative offshore banking sector, and almost all countries and territories in the Caribbean have developed tourism as a major industry, some to the virtual exclusion of almost any other economic activity. The economic result of this effort is mixed. Some countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, experienced significant economic growth during the late 1990s and early part of 2000. Others, like Jamaica and Haiti, continued to experience negative growth during this same period.

Political Upheaval And U.S. Intervention

The twentieth century represented a long and difficult period of political struggle in the Caribbean. By the 1930s, most countries in the region experienced major political upheavals as labor leaders, trade unions, and students demanded social reform and g eater participation in the political process. Charismatic and, at times, authoritarian leaders emerged from the movements, many of whom led their country to independence or dictatorship and ruin. These leaders include Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley in Jamaica, Luis Muñoz Marín in Puerto Rico, Aimé Césaire in Martinique, Fidel Castro in Cuba, François Duvalier in Haiti, Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, and Maurice Bishop in Grenada.

Most of the Caribbean’s experiments with political and social change, whether attempted through elections (as in Jamaica and Haiti), military coups (as in Grenada and the Dominican Republic), or open revolution (Cuba), elicited the attention of the United States, often in the form of direct or indirect military intervention. Since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, the United States has maintained a strong interest in the Caribbean and, at times, has claimed and executed a right to intervene in its affairs. U.S. influence was particularly evident in 1899, when the United States intervened on the side of the Cubans in the Spanish-American War. In negotiating the subsequent terms of Cuban independence, the United States drafted the Platt Amendment to the newly formed Cuban constitution, which constitutionally enabled the United States to intervene in Cuban economic and political affairs. Following a prolonged period of civil war, political deadlock, and instability in the Dominican Republic, the United States invaded and occupied the country in 1916. In 1960, the United States began recruiting and training Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow the newly victorious revolutionary government of Fidel Castro. Launched in April 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion proved disastrous for the United States when the invading force it supported was defeated by the Cuban National Guard in less than three days.

In 1965, U.S. troops were again deployed in the Dominican Republic to quell an uprising against dictatorial rule. In 1983, the United States invaded Grenada to remove left-wing leader Maurice Bishop. In 1994, and again in 2004, the United States invaded Haiti. Many Haitians accused the United States of arranging a coup d’état to remove democratically elected leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Regional Integration

By the 1990s, most countries of the Caribbean had attained political stability, with most countries transfer ring power through democratic elections (the notable exceptions being Haiti and Cuba). Except for a few cases, Caribbean countries have also experienced continuous economic growth, declining inflation rates, and climbing human development indexes. The region also continues to make positive steps forward through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which came into effect in 1973. CARICOM establishes a common market for member states. Currently, the organization boasts fourteen full members, and five associate members. In addition to establishing free trade and a common market in the Caribbean, CARICOM members have recently begun issuing CARICOM passports. CARICOM recently entered into Petrocaribe, an oil alliance with Venezuela that permits CARICOM members to purchase oil on conditions of preferential payments. Despite these significant political and economic achievements, more than one-third of the Caribbean’s population continues to live below the poverty line. Unemployment rates remain high, and many countries continue to suffer under the weight of foreign debt.

Bibliography:

Itam, Samuel, Simon Cueva, Erik Lundback, Janet Stotsky, and Stephen Tokarick. Developments and Challenges in the Caribbean Region. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 2000.
Rogonzinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean: From the Arawak and Carib to the Present. New York: Plume, 2000.
West-Durán, Alan, ed. African Caribbeans: A Reference Guide. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003.