The emergent transnationational capitalist class in the Caribbean

• In Event: The formation of social classes

Abstract

The 1990's saw the expansion of commodified citizenship programs in the Caribbean. With commodified citizenship, all the rights of citizenship are given to the new citizens without being subjected to the duties and obligations. In particular, the new citizens are not bound by the typical residency obligations, allowing them to circumnavigate existing restrictions on their movement. Although commodified citizenship ostensibly began as a means to help accelerate development projects throughout the Caribbean, it is fast becoming a tool of the transnational capitalist class. In this paper, using Leslie Sklair's conceptualization of the transnational capitalist class in the Third World (Sklair, 1991), I examine the case of Dominica, where the commodified citizenship program, initially marketed toward Taiwanese nationals are now geared toward transnational capitalists. Chinese transnationals are their primary target but others from middle income countries are slowly being incorporated into this network. These transnationals have not only gained access to a number of countries for which they had limited access, such as Canada, and the UK, they are able to move more freely and reside amongst CARICOM countries, for example. Using a growing database on commodified citizenship, the paper focuses on the economic and potentially far-reaching political repercussion for Dominica and the Caribbean region.
Reference:
Sklair, Leslie. 1991. Sociology of the Global System. 1st ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopins University Press.

Author

• Marilyn Grell-Brisk