Jamaica's Decision to Pursue a Neoliberal Development Strategy

Abstract

Although under Michael Manley in the 1970s Jamaica was in the forefront of the Non-Aligned Movement's attempt to establish a New International Economic Order (NIEO), the Edward Seaga government in the 1980s adopted neoliberalism as the lodestar for its domestic and foreign development strategies. This decision has paid off in some sectors of the economy, but the larger picture remains rather discouraging. The depth and scope of the current social and economic crisis in Jamaica raise the question of the political viability of the coalition between the state, the private sector, and various social classes that has embarked upon these neoliberal economic reforms. The Jamaican case is particularly interesting in that it may be seen as an indicator of the way in which the Caribbean region was used strategically by representatives of international finance capital in this period as a test case for the global deployment of new neoliberal strategies and policy initiatives (cf. Dietz and Pantojas-Garcia, 1994; see also Ranney, 1993). This case study examines the process of political coalition building surrounding Jamaican economic reform and the consequences for the country's foreign economic policy priorities. Specifically, it aims to trace the political attitudes and situational conditions that facilitated the emergence and consolidation of a free market coalition between the state, various social classes, and particular sectors of the business class. It is in this shift from the 1970s to the 1980s that one

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