Radical change in the social position of nonwhites has depended less upon emancipation than on decolonization. Having liberated themselves in 1804, the Haitians in the early 1820s invaded Santo Domingo and incorporated the former, almost forgotten Spanish colony into a Hispaniola-wide Haiti. In 1844, Dominicans rejected Haitian hegemony and declared their sovereignty. Later they reverted briefly to the Spanish crown, and they achieved their final independence in 1865. The third independence from a European power in the West Indies was Cuba’s, in 1898, and it involved not only two wars of independence with Spain but also U.S. intervention (the Spanish-American War). Cuba achieved formal independence from the United States in 1902 but remained a fief of its northern neighbour until the Platt Amendment was abrogated in 1934. By this time labour disturbances were about to break out throughout the region, a consequence of the Great Depression and the lack of means for democratic dissent; popular demands for development and decolonization were spreading from Jamaica to Trinidad.

Most of the West Indian societies were decolonized with imperial consent after World War II—by a grant of full independence, as in the case of most of the British territories, or by incorporation into the mother country, as in French-affiliated islands of the Lesser Antilles, or through their association with the colonial power, as in the former Netherlands Antilles and some of the British territories. All these methods of decolonization have been endorsed by the United Nations. Nevertheless, Britain still retains several small West Indian overseas territories, most of which have shown little interest in independence: Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Puerto Rico continues to exist as a commonwealth of the United States, although its future political status remains the subject of debate among islanders; some groups continue to pursue statehood and others independence.

When World War II ended in 1945, only three West Indian states were independent—Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba—and all either were or were about to become dictatorships. When the British, the French, and the Dutch began to decolonize, by either liberating or incorporating their territories, a major concern was the establishment of democracy. In pursuit of this objective the British tried to create an interisland federation that would incorporate more checks and balances than was feasible in a unitary state and that would also provide a vehicle for small-island decolonization. It was the failure of this policy with the breakup of the West Indies Federation (1958–62) that led to the first phase of independence (1962–66), the second stage of independence involving the Bahamas and the West Indies Associated States (1973–83), and the ultimate recognition by Britain of a residual and continuing category of dependencies.

Dependency

If most West Indian political units are no longer colonial, dependence remains the hallmark of Caribbean economies. For decades the terms of trade, for example, have operated against West Indian primary producers; none of the West Indian islands produces enough of any one major commodity to have a decisive role in fixing prices. More damaging in many cases than the terms of trade has been the penetration of each island economy by foreign enterprise. Neocolonialism prevails in most islands, and West Indians are acutely aware of their dependence on overseas capital, decision makers, and technologies, particularly in the French-affiliated islands of the Lesser Antilles.

The importance of multinational corporations in West Indian economies is reflected in the preeminent position of North American companies in the Jamaican, Haitian, and Dominican Republican bauxite industries and (to a lesser extent by the early 21st century) in Trinidad’s petroleum economy; the role of British-based companies in West Indian sugar production and refining; and the monopolistic position of both British and North American companies in the marketing of bananas from Jamaica and the Windward Islands.

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In the late 20th century there was substantial nationalization of foreign-owned enterprise in the West Indies because of pressure from governments and, in the Commonwealth Caribbean, as a result of the willingness of companies to surrender their least-viable operations and to use the compensation to open up activities elsewhere. For example, foreign-based sugar interests divested themselves first of land and then of factories in Jamaica and Trinidad, and Jamaicans and Trinidadians acquired interest in foreign banks.

It was once expected that decolonization would deliver more than halting development of dependent economies under generally conservative elites. When compared with the example of oppression and impoverishment in Haiti after 30 years of rule by François Duvalier and Jean-Claude Duvalier and the severe political and economic instability that followed in their wake, however, the British, French, and Dutch former colonies can be said to have made considerable social and economic progress under generally democratic governments. Indeed, the process of democratization—one of the major goals of decolonization—is largely regarded to have moved successfully. However, governments remain unclear on how the benefits of self-determination can be extended into grassroots economic development and social change, although some countries, Jamaica in particular, have made considerable progress in breaking the real and psychological ties of dependency.