Biography

Dr. Matthew Bishop is Lecturer in International Relations at the UWI Institute of International Relations (IIR), St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. He is the author of two forthcoming books, The Political Economy of Caribbean Development: A Comparative Analysis (Palgrave Macmillan) and, with Jean Grugel, Democratization: A Critical Introduction, Vol 2 (also Palgrave). He is also the managing editor of the soon to be re-launched Caribbean Journal of International Relations, the in-house journal of the IIR.

Article Title

The Global Crisis and the End of 'Dependent Development' in the French Caribbean?

Abstract

Since their inception into the French state in 1946 as Départements d’Outre Mer (DOM), the development of the Caribbean territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe has been largely insulated and underwritten by Paris. It has become increasingly clear that, sixty years on, various global processes have been putting this arrangement under pressure. With the onset of the global crisis, this was thrown rapidly and unexpectedly into shocking relief by the strikes, protests and violence which engulfed the islands in early 2009.

The purpose of this paper will be to trace the genesis of 'la crise aux Antilles' and ask why and how it came about, before assessing its solutions and their rationale. We will then move onto an analysis of the significance of the crisis for: a) the role of France as a continuing presence in the Caribbean; b) the unique ‘decolonisation by integration’ experiment and, concomitantly, the developmental aspirations of Martinique and Guadeloupe themselves; and, c) the likely future trajectory of these territories’ relations with both Paris and Brussels in a changing European and global context of crisis.