Overview
In this chapter we present an introduction to the book. The chapter serves to contextualize the discussion that occurs in each section and chapter and to provide background analysis that synthesizes the importance of the various issues to the Caribbean. We begin by introducing the Caribbean as a region before discussing briefly the main themes of the book and introducing the chapters in each section by providing a summary of the contents of each.
Historical Antecedents of Globalization in the Caribbean
The Caribbean is a region characterized by rapid internal change and influenced by profound global shifts. Changes in economy, demography, and the sociocultural, political, and environmental arenas combine to paint a picture of dynamic and rapidly evolving geographies. Globalization is not new to the Caribbean. The histories of the region are laced with transnational interactions and integrations and what it is today has been largely shaped by a multitude of external forces and influences. Some of these influences have been decidedly negative and political leaders and peoples across the region have been trying to limit and reverse them since the nation building and independence era of the late 1950s that blossomed in the 1960s. Potter et al. (2004, p. 387) suggested that, âHistorically, the Caribbean is perhaps the most globalised world region.â Referencing the earliest days of European colonization, the authors show how the plantation era was responsible for the domination of the Caribbean by external influences from Europe, Africa, and Asia in particular. âFor the Caribbean, therefore, current âglobalizingâ trends represent yet another round of powerful external influences for a region historically shaped by exogenous decisions and eventsâ (Potter et al. 2004, p. 388). Klak (1998) is of the view that not much has changed in the Caribbean in terms of globalization. He argues that there are more similarities than differences with the economic domination of the past. He writes:
The Caribbeanâs historical global integration, modernization, and industrialization underlie the regionâs abject dependency, which continues to the present. The Caribbean region is now largely independent from Europe politically but is still reeling under the historical legacies of dependency on outside authorities, suppliers, markets, and geopolitical agendas. Now that the entire world has entered the present era of (US dominated) globalization, the Caribbean offers a chronicle of the impact produced by exposure to many rounds of transformations of global capitalism. (p. 6)
Through its deep colonial ties to England, Spain, France, and the Netherlands and close, complex relations with the USA, the Caribbean region has a rich legacy of integration in international affairs and the global political economy.
Through the imperialistic goals of the colonists, ties were developed with both Africa and Asia which supplied the region with labour in the form of slaves from Africa, and after slavery ended in 1838, with indentured servants mainly from the East Indies. (Beckford and Campbell 2013, p. ix)
There can be no doubt then that global forces have profoundly impacted all facets of Caribbean existence. One of the areas where this manifests itself most acutely is in food and agriculture and more generally economy. Sugar, bananas, and coffee are three of the biggest foreign exchange earners and absorbers of the labour force. All three have been severely impacted by the global political economy with serious consequences for rural livelihoods and rural development.
Globalization has also had significant impacts on sociocultural and demographic aspects of the Caribbean. The region has a rich and diverse culture that is directly tied to global influences. Demographically, the region is largely made up of people of African, Asian, and European descent. Contact with Europeans in the early days of colonization led to the demise of the indigenous population through genocide and today there are only remnants of the first peoples in Caribbean populations.
Through the process of globalization, deep international ties have been established between the Caribbean and numerous parts of the world. A huge global Caribbean diaspora now exists because of opportunities for Caribbean peoples to emigrate. This started in the nineteenth century and gathered momentum in the mid-twentieth century and is still occurring at a rapid pace today. The overall impact of this phenomenon is still generally unknown. The significant contribution of financial remittances to the economies of so many Caribbean countries is clearly a positive development. However, especially in the context of the profile of recent migrants (young, technologically savvy, and highly educated), the region is losing some of its brightest minds and people with huge economic potential. This could be seen as a significant brain drain that is not offset by financial remittances. Furthermore, it could be reasonably argued that the remittance situation represents another form of dependency on external forces and conditions over which we have no control. Economic downturns and recessions in North America and Europe can have negative repercussions on remittance levels with households that are largely dependent on this source of income being severely affected. At the same time, the surplus labour that is absorbed by emigration provides substantial relief for overstretched social services in the region. Many migrants would be unable to find jobs in their native countries or would be underemployed. Of course many are still underemployed in their new lands. This discussion demonstrates the difficulty in analysing the impacts of globalization and explains why the issue is so thorny and contentious.
Global Change and Food and Agriculture in the Contemporary Caribbean
The term globalization means different things to different people. The interpretation of its effects and influences is also contested. In the development discourse, the conventional approach was to view globalization as an oppressive and unjust system imposed on developing countries by rich countries, which served to further their growth and development at the expense of the poorer countries. Having come to terms with the fact that the process now known as globalization would progressively manifest itself on the livelihood of peoples of the developing world, there is today more emphasis on looking for the opportunities that are often present because of the process.
Globalization as a process is nothing new. The world has been âglobalizingâ since the earliest days of migration and international trade. Communication, access to information, and transportation have caused physical boundaries to fade and made interactions easier. In strictly physical terms, the world is as close to being a global village as it has ever been (Murray 2006). Globalization may be succinctly defined as a deepening social and economic integration of nations across the world. It is the change in the nature of globalization today that draws legitimate criticisms from many observers. Research from East and Central Africa has concluded that globalization hurts the poor, hurts workers, is undemocratic, lacks control, and supports agricultural trade for the rich countries at the expense of the poor (Robbins and Ferris 2003). Advocates of globalization suggest that free trade brings benefits and that openness in an economy is good business (Jolly et al. 2008). Anti-globalization scholars say that it disfavours the poor, accentuates poverty, and increases inequities and trade dependency (Bhagwati and Srinivasan 2002; Stiglitz 2002). According to Schneider (as cited in Jolly et al. 2008, p. 36) there is a historical simplistic and inaccurate and misleading âview of globalization as a steady, progressive, beneficent integration of the global economyâ. The suggestion is that this view is inaccurate because
it ignores the contradictory way in which globalization has been visited upon various regions of the world, and it is dangerous in that it ignores the real effects of greater openness on real people. (Schneider as cited in Jolly et al. 2008, p. 36)
In the Caribbean, globalization in terms of economy is characterized by a reduction in trade barriers in the context of so-called free trade and an opening up of regional economies, which ironically, while promoting generally unfettered competition from external economies, have not promoted intra-regional economic integration to the same extent. This increased liberalization has often had devastating effects on local agriculture, as it does not always occur on a level playing field. However, a balanced assessment of the effect of globalization on Caribbean economies will show some positives. Even in the agricultural sector we will find some differential effects. Bananas and sugar have taken massive blows in most countries, but rice in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana and sugar in Guyana have not suffered as much. In the Windward Islands, for example, the devastating effects on the banana industry are wel...