Economic And Social Change On A Caribbean Frontier

Covers major events in the Caribbean struggle for freedom from emancipation to the present - from Toussaint's Haiti to the more recent revolutions in Cuba, Grenada and the Dominican Republic. The range of coverage is comprehensive calling attention to the variety of post-slavery experiences in the Spanish, Dutch, English and French Caribbean.

Focusing on the period from the Seven Years War to the First World War Clarence-Smith discusses how cocoa production helped transform some economies but ultimately failed to act as a dynamo for large scale development.

For undergraduate and graduate students of Latin American economics and political science.

This collection is a critical reflection of the evolution of Caribbean countries since the demise of the West Indies Federation in 1962. At this historical juncture, some territories opted for independence while others remained dependent territories. The volume examines Caribbean societies in comparative and general ways, covering aspects of their ongoing development and challenges. It covers such areas as Caribbean integration, the state of human capital and social policy in the region, the education sector, Caribbean economic sustainability, and, significantly, the physical environment of the Caribbean. A central question has always been: should these territories have gone independent or stayed under some British tutelage? The book addresses this question, illustrating that these island states have made considerable progress, especially in the maintenance and deepening of democratic practices.

Arising from Bondage is an epic story of the struggle of the Indo-Caribbean people. From the 1830's through World War I hundreds of thousands of indentured laborers were shipped from India to the Caribbean and settled in the former British, Dutch, French and Spanish colonies. Like their predecessors, the African slaves, they labored on the sugar estates. Unlike the Africans their status was ambiguous--not actually enslaved yet not entirely free--they fought mightily to achieve power in their new home. Today in the English-speaking Caribbean alone there are one million people of Indian descent and they form the majority in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. This study, based on official documents and archives, as well as previously unpublished material from British, Indian and Caribbean sources, fills a major gap in the history of the Caribbean, India, Britain and European colonialism. It also contributes powerfully to the history of diaspora and migration.

Building on the experience of OECD countries, this report sets out how the latest economic evidence and tools can enable better policy making for adaptation.