Matthew Louis Bishop

Tourism as a Small-State Development Strategy

There has been a shift in many developing countries, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), towards tourism as the centrepiece of their development strategy. This occurs in the context of narrowing developmental options occasioned by the end of preferential access to metropolitan markets for agriculture and the attendant decline of the primary sector. This article draws on evidence from two case studies from the microstates of the Eastern Caribbean – St Lucia and St Vincent – and discusses the implications of their respective approaches and the ambiguous nature of tourism as a development strategy.

Climate Change and the Future of Caribbean Development

Abstract Climate change is rapidly becoming the defining feature of the Caribbean developmental landscape. Yet theoretical and practical responses to the issue have been somewhat limited, particularly in terms of the socio-economic and political dimensions. This article begins by tracing the dramatic impact that climate change presages for Caribbean development. It then moves on to an analysis of how the region is attempting to respond at the global, regional and national levels. We then question the significance of this for Pan-Caribbean development, before pointing the way to a nascent research agenda with the political economy of climate change at its heart.

The political economy of small states: Enduring vulnerability?

ABSTRACT Author to supply.

Slaying the ‘Westmonster’ in the Caribbean? Constitutional Reform in St Vincent and the Grenadines

The model of governance bequeathed by Britain to the Caribbean has long been praised for ensuring that vibrant democratic practice has generally prevailed since the era of decolonisation. Yet it has also become increasingly clear that the Westminster system of politics, as it is applied to the regions tiny polities, has come to exhibit serious deficiencies and is in need of reform. The current government of St Vincent and the Grenadines has recently made a serious attempt to address the issue, engaging in an expansive process of public consultation and constitutional reform which was ultimately rejected by the populace in a referendum held in November 2009. This article seeks to analyse both the form and content of the constitutional reform process, situating it within broader debates about the Westminster Model itself.

Doha stalemate: The end of trade multilateralism?

This article challenges conventional narratives that suggest that the travails in the Doha Round, the shift to bilateral free trade agreements, and the broader unfolding of the global crisis collectively presage the decline of either the WTO or the broader institution of multilateral trade. We question the extent to which recent trends can indeed be said to constitute a genuine crisis of trade multilateralism by reflecting upon the contradictory and ambiguous nature of the multilateralism of the past, and also upon how contemporary multilateralism has been framed with reference to it. Our main finding is that, in contrast to the many short and medium-term symptoms which tend to appear in the conventional story of multilateral decline, there is actually a far more worrying long-term trend which underpins the varied conflicts that characterise contemporary trade politics: the fundamental lack of a shared social purpose between the developed countries and the more powerful emerging countries on which a stable, equitable, and legitimate edifice of multilateral trade rules can be erected, institutionalised, and enhanced.

Coalescing for Change? Novel Coalitions in the UK and Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract In May 2010 two elections took place in traditional ‘Westminster’ polities—the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago—in which coalition governments took power. In both countries, a significant part of the discourse in the run-up to election focused on the inequities of the Westminster model, and, in particular, first-past-the-post. Yet, interestingly, the end result in many ways mirrors the kind of outcome often championed by supporters of more proportional electoral systems. This article compares and contrasts the two different elections, and asks whether such coalitions are set to become a regular feature of a more mature Westminster model.

Hemispheric reconfigurations in Northern Amazonia: the ‘Three Guianas’ amid regional change and Brazilian hegemony

Abstract Regional and hemispheric reconfigurations in Latin America and the Caribbean are increasingly mediated by Brazilian power, and the engagement of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana with this emerging context is intriguing. They are tentatively moving away from a Caribbean region with which they are culturally contiguous, towards a South American continent in which they are geographically located. This is partly a reflection of the gradual opening up of the Northern Amazonian space that they share collectively, and also with Venezuela and Brazil. These processes are occurring as cause and effect of Brazil’s emergence as a regional – and even regionally hegemonic – power. With reference to wider debates on regionalism and hegemony, we analyse the uncertain consequences of these shifts.

Democracy and Development: A Relationship of Harmony or Tension?

There is a general acceptance in both popular discourse and the more mainstream parts of political science and international studies that democracy and development are conducive to each other. However, this is an extremely problematic view. Both concepts are often taken at face value and rarely problematised: they remain inadequately understood by policymakers, analysts, and academics. Despite the fact that they reflect but one perspective among many, it is globally hegemonic, liberal understandings of both that have decisively shaped prevailing attitudes. Not only is this questionable intellectually, in that the belief that democracy and development exist in symbiosis rests on deeply political foundations, but the resultant practical attempts to promote them globally also embody a range of value-laden ideological characteristics. The argument advanced in the chapter is not that democracy and development are not, or cannot be, supportive of each other. Rather, I illustrate how, with reference to three distinct contemporary phenomena—ambiguities in the official global democracy and development agendas, new patterns of authoritarian resilience and development, and the emerging democratic and developmental crisis in the West—the relationship between the two is more complex, ambiguous, and contingent than it often appears.

Still Lonely After All These Years?: Contemporary Development in the 'Three Guianas'

Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana have traditionally been seen as isolated: from each other; from the Caribbean with which they are socially and culturally contiguous; and also from the South American continent in which they are geographically situated. Moreover, divided by language and relationships of varying intensity with their former colonisers, very little research exists which analyzes their development predicament collectively. This article seeks to overcome some of these deficiencies. It shows how similar processes of change internally, regionally and globally are provoking new patterns of development and engagement with the world in all three Guianas. The central conclusion of the paper points towards the need for a new research agenda which focuses on these unique territories as distinctive prisms through which to view various dimensions of contemporary globalisation. These include emerging Brazilian hegemony in South America, the ecological devastation wrought by extractive industries, the accompanying clandestine trade in humans and narcotics which flourishes in regions with fuzzy borders, limited state reach, and, in some cases, compromised—and potentially even partially criminalized—state institutions themselves, and the precarious position of indigenous Amerindian and Maroon communities.Resumen:Guyana, Surinam y la Guyana Francesa tradicionalmente se han considerado como aisladas entre sí, del Caribe, con el cual están relacionadas social y culturalmente; y también del continente suramericano donde se encuentran localizadas geográficamente. Aún más, divididas por el lenguaje y las relaciones de variada intensidad con sus antiguos colonizadores, existen pocas investigaciones que analicen su situación de desarrollo en conjunto. Este artículo tiene como propósito el superar algunas de estas deficiencias. Se demuestra cómo los procesos similares de cambios internos, regionales y globales están provocando nuevos patrones de desarrollo y compromiso con el mundo en las tres Guyanas. La principal conclusión del artículo señala la necesidad de una nueva agenda de investigación que enfoque estos territorios únicos como distintos prismas a través del cual se puedan ver las distintas dimensiones de la globalización contemporánea.Résumé:Le Guyana, le Suriname et la Guyane française ont été traditionnellement considérés comme isolés l’un de l’autre; des Caraïbes avec lesquels ils sont socialement et culturellement contiguës; et aussi du continent latino-américain dans lequel ils sont situés géographiquement. En outre, divisés par la langue et les relations d’intensité variable avec leurs anciens colonisateurs, il existe très peu de recherches qui analysent leur situation de développement collectivement. Cet article cherche à surmonter certaines de ces lacunes. Il montre comment les processus similaires de changement interne, régional et mondial sont en train de provoquer de nouveaux modèles de développement et d’engagement avec le monde dans les trois Guyanes. La conclusion centrale de cet article pointe vers la nécessité d’un nouveau programme de recherche qui se concentre sur ces territoires uniques comme prismes distinctifs pour voir les différentes dimensions de la mondialisation contemporaine.

Conclusion: The Caribbean, Development and IPE

We opened the book by lamenting the relative under-representation of the Caribbean in the extant IPE canon. The core empirical agenda that we have advanced here consequently encompassed an attempt to counterbalance this reality by undertaking a detailed, controlled comparison of the political economy of four of the smallest islands in the region, the development of which has been characterised by a range of subtle — and not so subtle — differences in the post-war period. The analysis was grounded in the notion that contrasting British and French patterns of colonialism, their peculiar approaches to decolonisation, and changing global realities have all come to bear differently on the structural context within which these territories engage in development today. We sought to show how — both theoretically and empirically — it is Caribbean actors, operating within that (often highly constrained) context, which are producing and reproducing development on a daily basis.