Decolonising the Caribbean

Gert Oostindie is director of the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology (KITLV) in Leiden and professor of Caribbean history at Leiden University.

• Front Cover - 1 Table of Contents - 6 Acknowledgements - 8 Introduction - 10 1. The Comparative Context: Fragmentation of the British West Indies and the Remnants of Empire - 18 The Colonial Period - 18 The Failure of the West Indian Federation - 21 Re-engagement: The Overseas Territories - 25 2. The Comparative Context: The French départements d'outre-mer, Grandeur and Civilisation at a Price - 30 The Colonial Period - 31 Decolonisation through Integration - 33 Assimilation à la française - 37 3. The Comparative Context: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Deadlocks in American Geopolitics - 43 The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico - 44 Puerto Rico’s Status Debate - 49 The U.S.Virgin Islands: Unincorporated Territory - 54 4. Dutch Rule in the Caribbean up until 1940: Careless Colonialism - 58 Failed Exploitation - 58 Colonial Administration - 61 Cultural Divides - 63 5. The Dismantling of the Dutch Empire, 1940-1954 - 65 World War II, Powerless Dutch Colonialism and the Atlantic Charter - 66 In the Shadow of Indonesia - 70 The Round-Table Conferences - 77 The Charter of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1954 - 85 6. The Failed Attempt at Model Decolonisation, 1954-1975 - 90 Exploring the Charter’s Margins - 93 Turning Point: The 1969 Curaçao Revolt - 97 Negotiating the Independence of Suriname - 103 The Antillean Refusal - 117 7. The Perpetuation of the Transatlantic Kingdom since 1975 - 119 The Aruban Status Aparte - 122 A New Dutch Agenda for the 1990s - 132 Deadlocks and the Margins of Autonomy - 141 Into the Twenty-First Century - 146 8. Illusions and Benefits of ‘Reciprocal Assistance’: Development Aid - 154 Towards Structural Aid, 1954-1975 - 158 Aid to the Antilles and Aruba since 1975: Structural or Finite? - 164 AComparative Perspective - 173 9.A Caribbean Exodus – 177 - 178 Prelude, 1954-1973 - 181 The Independence of Suriname and the Exodus, 1973-1980 - 184 The Antillean Exodus of the 1990s - 190 A Comparative Perspective - 195 10. Cultural Exchange, Proximity and Distance - 202 Dutch Passport, Dutch Language? - 203 Reciprocal Cultural Exchange? - 208 A Comparative Perspective - 213 11. Epilogue - 216 Dutch Caribbean Decolonisation in a Nutshell - 218 Caribbean Decolonisation: a Tentative Balance Sheet - 221 What Kind of Kingdom? - 225 The Future - 230 Notes - 235 Bibliography - 271 Indexes - 285