Re-regulating the State, the Celebration of the Market, and the Crisis of Civil Society in the Commonwealth Caribbean
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8901632 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Linden Lewis (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 2-3 |
| Pages | 121-137 |
| Publication date | 2006-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Caribbean Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-6495 • E-ISSN: 2470-6302 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00086495.2006.11829703 |
| OpenAlex | W308054004 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 15 |
The Caribbean finds itself at a critical juncture in which the impact of the global restructuring of capital has begun to manifest itself at all levels of civil and political society. One of the crucial areas in which this global restructuring is having a decided impact, is at the level of the economy. Global capital is exerting constant pressure on some countries, particularly through the directives of multilateral institutions, to bring the market in line with the new requirements of accumulation on a world scale. In the case of the Commonwealth Caribbean this involves the adoption of the full gamut of neoliberal policies among which are: trade liberalization, re-regulating of state functions, the promotion of the private sector as the most appropriate vehicle of development, reduction of welfare provisions, and some combination of structural adjustment measures. What is clear about such responses to globalization however is that they represent a recognition of the state of crisis of these economies of the periphery. According to Samir Amin (1997) such policies become necessary because the neoliberal discourse is unable to respond to the real challenges of globalization without removing the barriers to greater accumulation of capital, hence the need for economic restructuring and re-regulation of the state. Nevertheless, what all these measures do is to slow down or manage the capitalist crisis, but not eliminate it. This neoliberal orientation is opposed to the traditional function of the Caribbean State, which has historically provided such basic welfare provisions as subsidized housing, school meals, text books and school uniforms for children, promotion of workers' rights, public income maintenance and public sector employment, among other things. In the present conjuncture, the state is being reconfigured away from its traditional welfare emphasis and is being made to play a central role in facilitating the development and expansion of the private sector, and participating in other regulatory functions such as coordinating the operations of its ideological and repressive apparatuses, mediating class conflict, and generally providing an appropriate environment and infrastructure for the free development of capital. Given the continuing economic crisis of the Caribbean, the bulk of working class people who depended on the State to provide basic relief and amelioration from such harsh realities, are discovering that the base of such support can no longer be sustained. This article will therefore attempt to examine the phenomenon of the reconfiguration of the role of the State in the Caribbean. It seeks to analyze the process of the re-regulating some functions of the state in the context of the globalization of capital, with its emphasis on market reform, and to attempt to map the consequences of these structural issues for civil society in the Caribbean. The Role of the Welfare State The welfare state as used in this paper refers to a particular type of social arrangement in which there is provision of crucial welfare services, such as housing, access to education, health, promotion of workers' rights and certain personal social services. The history of the welfare state and welfare politics is long, unevenly developed, and riddled with contradictions. For some, the origin of the welfare state is located in the impact of industrialization and therefore is rooted in moralistic considerations. The welfare state was believed to be the principal agent of capitalist society, designed to ameliorate the dislocating impact of industrialization on the masses (see Pierson, 1991: 14). Other conceptualizations of the welfare state note that this development is a response to modernization and the expansion of the notion of citizenship (see Pierson, 1991: 21-26). In this context, the development of welfare provisions distinguishes modern society from traditional society and demonstrates a need for the expansion of citizenship rights
Civil society · Commonwealth · Development economics · Economics · Economy · Globalization · Liberalization · Market economy · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Restructuring · State (computer science · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Community Development and Social Impact · Law · Taxation and Compliance Studies
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,08 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2014 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |