Between Self-Determination and Dependency

Between Self-Determination and Dependency:
Jamaica’s Foreign Relations 1972-1989
Author: Holger Henke
Reviewer: Jerome Teelucksingh

Henke must be commended for deciding to analyze issues relating to politics, economics and international relations. This incorporated a study of the different
perceptions of both political parties on the island’s condition of dependency and the increased dependency that led to a pivotal transformation of the creation of foreign policy objectives. Furthermore, that the reduction of foreign policy choices was due to the PNP’s agenda whilst on the contrary, the JLP sought ‘to re-integrate Jamaica into the political and economic dependency matrix’ which was controlled by the United States. In the author’s analysis of fixed capital formation during 1974 to 1980, he noted the fact that the government was overspending and failed to establish ‘a coherent investment program’.

In this study on the impact of economic policies, class was a critical factor in understanding the complexity of the unstable economic scenario. Interestingly, Henke acknowledged the dilemma of the ‘middle stratum’ whose dual aim of pleasing the bourgeois interests and popular masses resulted in a seemingly ambiguous political goal. The identification of two factions of the bourgeoisie, national and comprador, is critical in understanding the struggle for control of the state apparatus.

The issue of ethnicity could have been given some consideration in the study. Henke could have indicated the ethnicity of those persons comprising the various classes in Jamaica. This would have proven to be interesting in understanding the linkages among ethnicity, class and politics.

Cuba, regarded as a black sheep by the United States and organizations as the IMF, proved to be a liability rather than an asset for Jamaica. In Chapter Four, Henke noted, ‘Certainly Jamaica’s close involvement with Cuba contributed to a drying up of various sources of international finance’. Even though this relationship with Cuba waned after 1984, Henke’s opinion is that it was one of Jamaica’s ‘unrewarding political imbroglios’.

Despite the study’s comprehensive analysis, there were certain vital questions that were not addressed. Did the size of Jamaica’s economy contribute to a dependency syndrome or was this a fate endured by other developing economies in the Caribbean? The author mentions Jamaica’s relations with Haiti and Grenada in the 1980s, but what was the reaction of other Caribbean countries to Jamaica’s situation, and did any offer to assist? What was the response of the Jamaican working
class to these structural changes? Furthermore, a noticeable omission from Between Self-Determination and Dependency is an analysis of the impact of Black Power ideology of the early 1970s, on the economic substructure of Jamaica. Despite the minor flaws, the study is praiseworthy for situating Jamaica within an Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 78, abril de 2005 | 111 international context. This included mention of South-South cooperation, relations between the United States and the USSR, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77. The harsh reality of the study’s findings is that whilst Jamaica and other developing countries have achieved political independence, they remain under economic servitude. The internal struggle for ideological and political hegemony masks the downward spiral into an abyss of economic malaise.

A noteworthy aspect of Between Self-Determination and Dependency is the inclusion of interviews of former government officials, ambassadors and heads of local organizations. They provided an invaluable insight into the motives, influences and opinions of key individuals who played pivotal international and regional roles.

The 1980s is clearly delineated in the final two chapters, ‘Jamaica and the Caribbean in the 1980s’ and ‘Jamaica’s Relations with International Capital and the US in the 1980s’. The introduction of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) marked a watershed in the island’s economic scenario. The GDP indicators reflected economic stagnation and the era is rightly dubbed ‘a lost decade’ (p. 75). Henke is also accurate in identifying the continued dominance of the United States and its ‘reassertion of global influence’.

Undoubtedly, Between Self-Determination and Dependency can serve as a valuable lesson for developing countries to be extremely wary of their economic policies and relationship with international lending agencies. It will also be useful for those countries campaigning for a Caribbean Single Market Economy (CSME).

Holger Henke
2000
 ISBN 978-976-640-058-3
240pp 6 x 9
US$ 25.00 Paper
 

Jerome Teelucksingh
University of the West Indies, Trinidad