Book Description

In 1492, Europeans began the colonization of the West Indies and the Americas. Imperialism had tremendously displacing effects on the indigenous peoples of the Americas firstly and Africa thereafter. A dynamic convergence of politics, economics and religion, transformed the development trajectories of Europe, the Caribbean, and ultimately the world. Mercantilist trade practices established regional dependence on the metropolitan cores of Western Europe, positioning the Caribbean for chronic vulnerability to transformations associated with the evolution of capitalism in the broader world economy. Perpetuated through restrictive trade and economic policies, manifestations of this dependence and vulnerability have endured in the modern Commonwealth Caribbean despite the achievement of independence for most of the former colonies, and autonomous internal self-governance for the rest. The often strict divisions of scholarly labor have resulted in ample study of the region's persistent vulnerability and under-development since the nineteenth century. However, there exists limited interdisciplinary research on the effectiveness of the many interventions implemented to counter the region's restrictive small scale, disconnected geography, and susceptibility to environmental threats. This study employs a mixed-method; qualitative/quantitative research design to investigate these and other factors impacting trade and development in the Commonwealth Caribbean amidst ongoing global economic transformations. Evidence-derived prescriptions for economic diversification, specialization in services exports, and intensified integration are put forward with the goal of re-positioning the region for increased economic competitiveness as a means of withstanding the shocks of the turbulent global economy.