Statehood à la Carte in the Caribbean and the Pacific
Secession, Regionalism, and Postcolonial Politics
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:9th May '23
Should be back in stock very soon
This book explains how leaders in the Caribbean and Pacific regions balance the autonomy-viability dilemma of postcolonial statehood - that political self-determination is a hollow achievement unless it is accompanied by economic development - by practising statehood à la carte. Previous research has focused on the pursuit of decolonial self-determination through and above the nation state, via regionalism and internationalism, or by creating non-sovereign alternatives to it. This book looks at how communities have sought the same goals below the state, including via secession and devolution. Downsizing is typically portrayed as the antithesis of progressive, cosmopolitan internationalism and employed as evidence for the claim that the age of anticolonial self-determination has ended. In this book, Jack Corbett shows how these movements are animated by similar ideas and motivations that are rendered viable by the simultaneous pursuit of regional integration and forms of non-sovereignty. He argues that the à la carte pursuit of political and economic independence through, above, and below the state, and via non-sovereign alternatives to it, is a pragmatic response to the contradictions inherent to coloniality.
Jack Corbett's comparative focus on secessionist movements in the Caribbean and Pacific makes a significant contribution to the small states literature. Centring the autonomy-viability dilemma, which reflects the tension between the desire for secession and integration, Corbett reflects more broadly on the nature of contemporary statehood, the increased presence of small states in the international system, and the politics behind the social construction of the state. By focusing on the understudied area of secessionist movements in small states and employing a comparative lens to bring scholarship on the two regions together, Corbett has further expanded the scope of the literature on small states. * Patsy Lewis, Senior Fellow, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University *
This is another very welcome contribution by Jack Corbett that will be of interest to all Pacific scholars seeking to understand the complexities of postcolonial sovereignty and statehood. It offers a refreshing take on Hau'ofa's rallying cry for Oceania to reframe smallness, a novel "Statehood à la carte" concept, and considerable evidence of the ways small states reimagine their futures in their own terms and in ways which challenge tired approaches that foreground economic deficits. * Tearinaki Tanielu, Director for Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Government of Kiribati *
This is a wonderfully original book. In it Jack Corbett teases out the many complexities and subtleties that characterize the way that sovereignty has actually been deployed in the small island states of the Caribbean and Pacific and, in so doing, brings to the wider political science debate about statehood and secession a rich and understudied body of new material. * Tony Payne, Emeritus Professor, University of Sheffield *
Corbett challenges conventional paradigms, inviting readers to rethink their understanding of statehood in the complex tapestry of the Caribbean and Pacific regions and to draw lessons applicable to larger countries. * Choice *
ISBN: 9780192864246
Dimensions: 23mm x 164mm x 242mm
Weight: 596g
320 pages