Foreign interests have dominated the economic development of the Caribbean since the first arrival of Europeans in the region five centuries ago. From the plantation system and slavery to the exploitation of oil and bauxite by the multinational
corporations, the history of the Caribbeau people is one of dependency and impoverishment. For the great majority, past and present- slaves, indentured laborers, p easants and workers, the unemployed- the region's subjection to extemal control has meant systematic hardship and social injustice. in this survey of economic development in the Caribbean, Clive Thomas traces the history of colonialism and neocolonialism from the perspective of this majority. Drawing lessons from numerous historical cases, Thomas argues that another form of development- by the poor and for the poor- is not only possible but necessary. The Poor and the Powerless offers a radical appraisal of the Caribbean's past vulnerability to foreign control and its future prospects for genuine independence.

Prelims - The Poor and the Powerless (Title Page, Copyright Information, Contents, Map, Preface, Introduction)
PART ONE: ROOTS
1. Conquest, Settlement and Slavery: The Makings of the Colonial Economy
2. Transition: From Colonial Slave Economy to Centre-Periphery Relations
3. Revolt and War: The Caribbean Around the Time of the Second World War
PART TWO: INDEPENDENCE AND THE NATIONALIST ALTERNATIVES
4. Colonialism and Nationalism: Alternative Economic Strategies
5. Puerto Rico to the Rescue: Industrialisation by Invitation
6. The Caribbean in Boom: Oil and Bauxite
7. Foreign Plantations, Peasants and the State: The Struggle for Land
8. The Search for New Poles of Growth: Tourism and Off-shore Banking
9. The State and Institutional Reform
PART THREE: CRISIS AND THE NATIONALIST MODELS AND SOCIAL EXPERIMENTATION
10. Social Structure, Ownership and Controls: The Basic Issues
11. National Experiments: The Radical Options
12. National Experiments: The Conservative Options
13. Small Countries in a Big World: Metropolitan Versus Caribbean Integration
14. Crisis, Reaction, Response: The Caribbean in the Late 1980s
15. Conclusion: Another Development
Back Matter - The Poor and the Powerless (Notes, List of Acronyms, Bibliography, Index)

Clive Thomas
Clive Thomas, a Guyanese economist, has been Director of the institute of Development Studies at the University of Guyana.