| This research examines post-colonial nation-state formation in the insular Caribbean before, during, and after the Cold War. The insular Caribbean is examined as a single region, and three waves of nationalist/independence movements are analyzed. Three major schools of thought are reviewed, and they intersect at the important roles that ascendant elite and middle strata played in pursuit of greater autonomy within the international system. Existing theoretical approaches direct our attention to the profound impacts that European colonialism and the subsequent Eurocentric world-system had in formulating contemporary Caribbean societies and developing the constraints/incentives for nation-state formation. This research examines the dynamic roles of the region's ascendant elite and middle strata within the nation-state formation process.;Geographic constraints re-informed the insularism that emerged from the plantation mode of production. The nationalist/independence movements that developed before and during the Cold War sought maximum power for local elites within existing classic mercantilist and colonial structures. These systems were incompatible with nationalist forces, and as internal metropolitan crises developed, the region's national forces sought nation-states. Before the Cold War, nationalist forces in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba fought protracted military conflicts in order to formulate new nation-states. During the Cold War, the Eurocentric world-system was displaced by US hegemony and the hegemonial shift that ensued led to a unique context for Caribbean nation-state formation. The largest colonial grouping was decolonized due to the mutual demands for the dismantling of empire and colonial ties. Jamaica, Antigua-Barbuda, and the Bahamas were selected as representative cases of the Cold War era decolonization process.;During the Cold War, classic colonial ties were reformulated or destroyed by the ascendant elite and middle strata who were unable to defend, expand, or consolidate their power within moribund colonial structures. The last wave of independence movements grew out of the Cold War era reforms that metropolitan elites developed to provide concessions to the middle and lower strata of their colonial units. Independence movements in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Puerto Rico are examined for future trends in the first decade of the twenty-first century. When another period of core crisis occurs, new nation-states may emerge. |
