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Centro Journal ISSN: 1538-6279 [email protected] The City University of New York Estados Unidos

Gamaliel Ramos, Aarón Reseña de "Extended Statehood in the : Paradoxes of Quasi , Local Autonomy and Extended Statehood in the USA, French, Dutch and British Caribbean" de Lammert de Jong y Dirk Kruijt (eds.) Centro Journal, vol. XX, núm. 2, 2008, pp. 249-251 The City University of New York New York, Estados Unidos

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2 Colonial Subjects: Puerto From Colonia to Community , Universidad de —Río Piedras [ 249 ] Aarón Gamaliel Ramos : on the & in the Rican Nation on the Move : Identities Duany, Jorge. The Puerto Like Carmen Whalen’s book cited above, the work of Lorrin Thomas will form an Like Carmen Whalen’s book cited above, the Caribbean From a comparative perspective, the diversity of colonialism in the Caribbean

Whalen, Carmen of North Carolina Press, 2002; . Chapel Hill: University and Postwar Economies Rico to Philadelphia : Puerto Rican Workers Teresa. From Puerto Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001; Grosfoguel, Ramón. University Press, 2001; Grosfoguel, Philadelphia: Temple of California Press, 2003; Ramos-Zayas, . Berkeley: University Ricans in a Global Perspective Space in Puerto Rican Chicago The of Class, Race, and Ana Y. National Performances: 2003. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ng of a The years that followed the end of World War II saw the beginning of a decolonization process that turned many of the colonies of the region into independent countries. However, in the emerging postwar political a group of colonies remained under the control of Great Britain, , Holland, and the United States. These are the territories that are the central concern of Local the book Extended Statehood in the Caribbean: Paradoxes of Quasi Colonialism, Edited by Lammert de Jong and Dirk Kruijt Amsterdam: Rozemberg Publishers, 2005 206 pages; $41.00 [paper] r e v i e w e r Extended Statehood in the Caribbean: Paradoxes of Quasi Colonialism, Colonialism, Quasi of Paradoxes Caribbean: the in Statehood Extended and Dutch French, USA, the in Statehood Extended and Autonomy Local Caribbean British Caribbean, Autonomy and Extended Statehood in the USA, French, Dutch and British edited by Lammert de Jong and Dirk Kruijt. is extraordinary. Significant differences between the political conceptionsthe legal traditions have historically informed the colonial policies of the British, and the French, the Dutch, and the United States. Thus, the non-independent utional territories of the contemporary Caribbean manifest a broad range of constit arrangements. The French Antillean of and and the are “overseas departments” of France, with an administrative 2 notes 1 k and other other York and in New experience Puerto Rican the theorizes and documents, s have to ends. Social scientist work at both however, must states. The critique, the question the way in which break past has been posed when studying the varying have to dysfunction), and historians poverty, and Puerto Ricans (failure, realities of Rican presence. century-old Puerto the study of the engage with more completely work by a political scientist confused, challenging, and ambitious In many ways, this lies ahead. for historians of the work that should serve as a reminder A much revised version of her 2002 dissertation A much revised version of her 2002 dissertation invaluable contribution to this effort. Lorrin. “Citizens on the Margins: Puerto Rican will be published soon (Reed Thomas, Thesis (Ph. D.), University of Pennsylvania, Migrants in New York City, 1917-1960.” an early and critical contribution that 2002.). See also the work by Sánchez Korrol for was not followed by other scholars. Sánchez Korrol, Virginia. . Latinos in American Society and Culture: 5. City. Latinos in American Society and Culture: the History of Puerto Ricans in New York 1994. Berkeley: University of California Press, organization similar to other mainland French departments, such as Hautes-Pyrénées and Pas-de-Calais. The U.S. and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are the two “unincorporated territories” in the region, which belong to this metropolitan power but are not an integral part of its political system. and a group of islands that form the federation of the Netherlands (Curaçao, , St Eustatius, , and St Maarten) are “autonomous countries” within the kingdom of the Netherlands. While United States and the Dutch territories are nominally autonomous, the United Kingdom rules over its Caribbean “overseas territories” of Anguila, , , Turks and Caicos, and the , with the more traditional mechanisms of colonialism. De Jong has been an author and a public servant, having served a resident- representative of the Netherlands government in the and Counselor to the Netherlands government on Kingdom Relations. Kruijt is a professor of Development Studies at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and has also been concerned with the relations between the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles and . They have summoned a group of researchers from the Caribbean and Europe to examine the organization, functioning, and variations of these political systems. There is little agreement in the current literature on territories with respect to the nature of the relationship between overseas possessions and their metropoles and with respect to their categorization. De Jong feels uncomfortable with the use of the concept “colonialism,” which he sees as biased and outdated. In order to distinguish the political arrangements of historical colonialism from the constitutional arrangements of contemporary departments and overseas territories, he introduces the concept of “extended statehood.” In the opening chapter of the book he lays out the central question that binds the volume: how the present constitutional arrangements between France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States with their respective possessions in the Caribbean region “work and how can they be put to better use in a highly interactive global world where more and more nation-states have become part of supranational arrangements” (p. 4). Although the scope of the book is extremely broad, the collection of articles are, for the most part, case studies of territories that follow a common boilerplate outline, which includes such considerations as the nature of political organization, the question of citizenship, migration, development and poverty, metropolitan assistance, crime, corruption and the rule of , and an array of social ills in territories. However, the contributors emphasize different aspects of this common plan. In their article “Fifty Years of Commonwealth: The Contradictions of Free Associated Statehood in Puerto Rico,” Jorge Duany and Emilio Pantojas- García describe the present constitutional relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States, the social and economic transformations in Puerto Rico under the Commonwealth, the question of citizenship, and the problems associated with migration to the United States. The authors believe that given the increasingly transnational Puerto Rican population, cultural nationalism will be more prosperous than political nationalism, and foresee the continuation of the Commonwealth arrangement for the time to come. Justin Daniel’s article, “The French Départements d’Outre mer: Guadeloupe and Martinique,” discusses the ambiguous relationship between Guadeloupe and Martinique with France, the limits of local autonomy as a result of their dependency from the metropole, and their isolation from their regional environment. After explaining the nature

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[ 251 ] : A Not : A Not of the Netherlands Jong, “The Kingdom by Lammert de The article ork from the posture in the editors who work from the There is a clear anti-independence outlines the ingredients for a balance As a conclusion to the book, de Jong This book is an informative volume on the challenges faced by nonindependent yzes the analyzes the and Aruba,” Netherlands Antilles Union with the So Perfect in the Dutch Kingdom present constitutional arrangements intricacies of the between the marked by the cultural differences and the growing tensions citizens of Holland and those of the territories. He describes a of Nederlanders of in which the common Dutch citizenship Dutch Kingdom,” “not so united go hand in hand with a those of the territories “does not the metropole and the application (p. 107), whereas the tensions surrounding communal identity” political scenario scenario political an ambiguous describes author the departments, overseas of the the French lation of in the popu nationalistic feelings by the rise of characterized from France. the fears of separation Antilles and has become increasingly at odds with at odds with of good governance has become increasingly of the Dutch policy In his article, of the territorial state structure. the autonomous operation Statehood and the Process Overseas Territories: Extended “The UK Caribbean recent policy debates Peter Clegg considers the of Policy Convergence,” “dependencies” into “overseas territories” at following the conversion of British Clegg is principally concerned with the debates the end of the twentieth century. by the British on the administration that originated from the controls imposed the metropolitan supervision of key of their Caribbean possessions, particularly services economy, human rights, and good areas such as the offshore financial proposals to reform the constitution of governance. In analyzing the current territories, Clegg concludes that, despite the tensions brought about by increasing of the territories, the inhabitants metropolitan intervention in the administration exacted by the UK “as they wish to have no choice but to accept the controls for the foreseeable future” (p. 149). remain under the authority of the Crown and political independence are not realistic premise that further decolonization included a chapter by anthropologist Francio options. In that vein, they have also Anti-National Pragmatist on Guadeloupe titled, “Introducing an anti-independence discourse of one of the & ,” which explores the the island of Saint Martin, which is shared by most popular radio disc jockeys in both France and the Dutch. statehood in the Caribbean. For all his sheet of the experience with extended initial enthusiasm with the prospects of extended statehood, de Jong is ready to accept that current political arrangements in the Caribbean “depend in large measure on what politicians on the mainland decide” and that that “they do not have enough clout to make much difference in decisions about the nuts and bolts of what extended statehood should include and how it must operate” (p. 197). territories in the contemporary Caribbean. I consider it an important source for understanding some of the problems and issues with respect to their constitutional structures. However, the theoretical attachment of the authors to the concept of extended statehood fences them within the confines of existing political arrangements and analytical views, precluding them from seriously exploring the ongoing debates in the British, the French, the Dutch, and the United States territories, where different voices and alternative futures are at play. Nonetheless, Extended Statehood is an important source for the study of contemporary colonialism and a welcome addition to the literature in Caribbean studies.