Breaking with Eurocentric approaches
Google–assisted translation by Norman Girvan
I want to start by saying two things. First, to thank Dra. Graciela Chailloux, professor and
researcher at the Fernando Ortiz Studies Centre, for the invitation to participate in the launch of
this book, which consists of selected essays by a Caribbean Professor -- and I say ‘Caribbean’
deliberately -- Norman Girvan. Second, because it is an honor to present his work, for reasons
that I will explain throughout this intervention.
Norman Girvan is an important figure in the Caribbean. He combines the work of a theoretical
economist, carrying out rigorous socioeconomic analysis of the Caribbean, with that of a
practical economist who advances economic policy proposals, as was the case when he served as
Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). Both aspects of his work are
marked by a major political commitment.
The book takes us through all the facets of his multifaceted life. Girvan belongs to a generation
of Caribbean social scientists--unfortunately still relatively unknown in our country, except for
the initiated – which has been building a major body of research dedicated to the problems of
economic underdevelopment and development in the Caribbean region. This work was
developed more or less simultaneously with the splendid period of structuralist theory, identified
with the work of Raul Prebisch, Celso Furtado and Osvaldo Sunkel; and dependency theory,
associated with the names of Theotonio Dos Santos, Ruy Mauro Marini, Orlando Caputo and
many others.
My comments about this the book in particular, and about Girvan’s work in general, will focus
on two dimensions: the academic and the political.
Girvan the academic is a scholar of the economic, social and political thought of the Caribbean
that emerged in the 1930s with the mission to break with prevailing Eurocentric approaches to
the analysis of the realities of the Caribbean. He is also a member of the generation of social
scientists that followed the work of noted economist W. Arthur Lewis, 1979 Nobel Laureate in
Economics; who were devoted to the study of the socio-economic problems in the Caribbean
employing our own conceptualization and methodologies. Included among these were Lloyd
Best, Kari Polanyi Levitt and George Beckford, and several others.
Professor Girvan is credited with having extended the theory of plantation economy originally
developed by Best and Levitt Polanyi, by introducing the analysis of the pernicious role of
transnational corporations in the exploitation and plundering of the natural resources of
underdeveloped economies and obstructing their efforts at economic development. He
investigated how these corporations not only exacerbated the underdevelopment of Caribbean
economies by appropriating the economic surplus generated by the export sector; but also
impacted negatively on decisions about resource allocation, choice of technology and other
factors.
Structuralist theory, and above all dependency theory, were milestones in the work of economists
and other social scientists from the developing world--in this case from Latin America and the
Caribbean—who rejected theories about their socioeconomic realities and the associated policies
that had been developed in universities and research centers in the so-called North. Equally there
was a rejection of a dogmatic or misinterpreted Marxism-Leninism that considered economies,
and therefore political economy analysis, in terms of a typology consisting exclusively of
capitalist and socialist economies as characterized by the perceived dominance of a particular
type of relations of production. This ignored the wealth of situations in the real world of
developing countries, where social structures and relations of production were different, more
complex, sui generis and not conforming to preconceived models or schemas.
Whereas for some scholars it was appropriate to divide the structures of economies into a Sector
I, producing means of production, and a Sector II producing consumer goods; other analyses
asserted the validity of dividing economic structures into primary, secondary and tertiary.
Similarly, the complexity of international economic and political relations means that our
analysis cannot be restricted to a division between capitalist and socialist economies; but must
pay attention to the peculiarities and problems of all kinds of underdeveloped economies. And
the latter are not a completely homogeneous group. This misunderstanding about the need for
close analysis of the specifics of underdeveloped countries in order to identify the factors that
reproduce underdevelopment and formulate policies and strategies to overcome it, had its
counterpart in our country where several generations of the economists and other social scientists
received Eurocentric or North-centric training, in which the world consisted entirely of
economies that were either capitalist and socialist. This, in a country which was underdeveloped
before it was socialist.
Hence the long overdue task of developing a political economy of underdevelopment and
development in the countries of the former so-called Third World. Elaborations of this kind are
scattered here and there, but we have failed to organize and group this in a way that could be of
definite practical value for policy-makers in these countries. Albeit there are modest, embryonic
efforts that have been initiated at the University of Havana; with the establishment of a
specialisation and the preparation of a text in studies of underdevelopment and development.
Perhaps one of the most important essays in this book is the one on dependency theory, where
Girvan argues that this body of thought represents the assertion of the right of peoples of the
Global South to develop their own interpretation of their reality. Better known in Cuba from the
work of scholars from, or residing in, Latin America; dependency theory had important
contributions from Caribbean writers, among them Girvan. His analysis of the work of
Caribbean dependentistas in this book is comprehensive and rigorous. The Caribbean writers
coincide with the prominent Egyptian economist, Samir Amin, in holding that dependency can
be overcome by means of a process of ‘delinking ‘or disengagement.
Caribbean dependency theory made significant contributions to the understanding of the socioeconomic reality of the region in particular and the developing world in general. Standing out In
this regard are this ideas of Alister McIntyre, on the need to distinguish between structural and
functional dependence; and of George Beckford, who analyzed dependency as a form of
peripheral capitalism. Caribbean dependentistas also had to address a socioeconomic reality
different from that of Latin America, which led them to propose a synthesis of classical class
analysis with the problem of race.
The first essay in the book-- Reinterpreting the Caribbean—provides a link between Girvan the
academic and Girvan the political person. In it he analyzes different conceptions and definitions
of what is understood by ‘Caribbean’. He presents the notable and interesting argument that
culture and common interests are factors of greater importance in distinguishing the Caribbean
than shared physical space.
The issue of integration can be considered to be at the core of the political Girvan; and the book
has several papers dealing with it. One paper analyses the various initiatives that have been taken
by the countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) towards regional economic
integration. Another, centered on Caribbean relations with the former metropolis, shows how the
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) driven by the European Union restrict opportunities
for development policy initiatives by developing countries.
Deserving particular comment is the paper on ALBA. The political Girvan, aware of the
importance of integration among developing nations in a highly globalized world where their
economic and political marginalization grows daily, sees in the project initiated by Venezuela
and Cuba an example of the type of partnerships that would favorauble to the interests of
Caribbean nations. This is evident in the identification of significant advantages of ALBA-TCP
over neoliberal integration schemes, which are generally limited to trade liberalization measures
that which tend to accentuate the uneven distribution of benefits among participating countries.
Girvan sees Caribbean countries as being faced with the dilemma of whether to regard the
ALBA as an alternative to neoliberal regional integration, or as complementary to it. Perhaps the
doubts that Caribbean countries still have about full integration with ALBA are due to several
objective factors that Girvan is not remiss in pointing out. The political Girvan does not abandon
the academic Girvan in this respect, for while recognizing the importance of ALBA both for
Latin American countries and Caribbean countries, he presents some specific concerns about the
prospects for the project. Among these are the need to transform simple principles into statutory
policies; and the nature of the solidarity among member countries or, more importantly, its
sustainability.
Havana, February 17, 2013
Índice (Table of Contents)
Prólogo (Foreword), Graciela Chailloux Laffita/ 7
Referencias bibliográficas (Bibliographic references)/ 20
I.
Reinterpretar el Caribe (Reinterpreting the Caribbean)/ 21
II.
El pensamiento de la dependencia en el Caribe anglófono (Caribbean Dependency
Thought Revisited/ 50
III.
La economía de plantación en la era de globalización (Plantation Economy in the Age of
Globalisation)/ 99
IV.
La Comunidad del Caribe e encuentra con la Europa Global: Las implicaciones del
Acuerdo de Asociación (EPA) entre el CARIFORUM y la Unión Europea
(CARIFORUM-UE) (Implications of the EPA for the CSME)/ 107
V.
Es la ALBA un nuevo modelo de integración? Reflexiones sobre la experiencia de
CARICOM (Is ALBA a new model of integration? Reflections on the CARICOM
experience)/ 133
VI.
La Comunidad del Caribe: integración económico dificil de alcanzar (Caribbean
Community: The Elusive Quest for Economic Integration)/ 169
VII.
C.L.R. James, la independencia del Caribe y la integración caribeña (C.L.R. James,
Caribbean independence and regional integration)/ 205
VIII.
Reflexiones sobre la violencia armada y el desarrollo en el Caribe (Reflections on armed
violenve and development in the Carbbean) /234