Good governance and local autonomy in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe and the Caribbean

Having a specific ministry for overseas territories is the outcome of Dutch and Caribbean (post) colonial history. The Kingdom of The Netherlands as of 2010 consists of four autonomous countries. The Netherlands in Europe, and Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten in the Caribbean. The government of The Netherlands in Europe also governs three special public entities resembling municipalities in the Caribbean: Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES-islands). The recent changes in the constitutional relations between The Netherlands in Europe and its Caribbean counterparts can be explained by two factors. On the one hand the resourceful and successful resistance of both the local political elites as well as the local populations against Dutch decolonisation efforts in the 1970s and 1980s. On the other hand the responsibility felt by the former colonial power for the detrimental effects of the lack of good governance in the overseas territories under the previous constitutional arrangements, caused by clientelism, corruption and the encroachment of international organized crime on the local administrations. Consequently, direct Dutch involvement in local Caribbean politics and administrations with good governance programs has significantly increased since the 1990s

Autonomy · Business · Clientelism · Colonialism · Corporate governance · Decolonization · Democracy · Government (linguistics · Language change · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law