Years of Poems and Spirits

The Transformation of Political Community: Ethical Foundations of the Post-Westphalian Era

Why a World State is Inevitable

Towards a Global Polity: Trends and Perspectives

Charles Moskos: The Sociology of Political Independence

Introduction: nationalism
Its relationship to Enlightenment ” began to receive a moral basis that would shatter most of the feudal and medieval affiliations” … a secular ideology … lead to the achievement of the rights of man. p2

Another branch: Romanticism. “… empahsize exclusivist features of national feeling” p3

Independence movement as the “the final stages of the global spread of nationalism … ” p3
The nationalist spirit in the colonial territories was not indigenous, but a result of diffusion from the Western Europe. (p4) Pressure from world opinion such as the UN. (p4)
The 3rd phase of colonial response, …, is a dialectical synthesis of nativism and Westernization (p5) National independence was seen as the political means necessary to realize the sweeping changes implicit in the Western promise. (5)

Chapter 2: context, background: Economy, ethnicity,
As close to independency, more emphasis on “industrialization” (p11) But there has not been a major structural transformation of the West Indian economy. (12)
Heavy foreign dependency: relying on export (11-12)

Why West Indies Federation Failed: partly the politicians don’t want to jeopardize their powers (14), partly a suspicion that the GB is trying to offload its share of responsibilities. (14) Jamaica went independence after exiting from the Federation. Then Guyana followed. Barbados left. The small 7 still became Associated States (15) –Again, leaders “preeminent in their own bailiwicks”, cannot agree.

Jamaica politics overview: PNP and TUC. BITU->JLP (rural). PNP (city, middle class) is mostly on the left of JLP.(17)

The ambivolence of nationalism: movie threator story (p1): true nationalists, true colonialists, the reluctant, the dutiful and the opportunistic nationalists. Some interesting quoate (35): “no one is going to stop independence” (36-38)

Nationalist types by territory (39) Jamaica 21% colonialists.

Youth, lowest or highest educational levels, dark skin, lack of wealth, political and labor union correlates to nationalist behavior (63)

nationalism as a result of mass mobilization (65) “The general picture which arises form the data, … while nationasts were … leaders of newer mass-based organization.”

Thus, the rights-of-man variables, especially egalitarianism, are conceived as causing a pro-independence outlook. (67) The natioanlists viewed their desires for political independence largely as a means to the achievement of an egalitarian society. (69)
“My nationalism is simply a means to an end. ” (69)
“I stidied at the London School of Economics. That is where I picked up the idea of political independence …”

For non-nationalist: “The eonomics prevent it.” “Economic development is our need, not theatrics” “We need a customs union, a Caribbean common market. That is what makes sense. Political independence is foolishness” (70)

Carlton Hayes’ 5 types of nationalism: 71-72 West Indies nationalism has a mixture of all:
Romantic=Jacobin=unrestricted participation and absolute equality
Even integral nationalism: police surveilance etc.

The West Indian nationalist movement was the result of a middle class leadership … (74)

The nationalist ideas were able to find reception in the broader W I population, the fact remains that these ideas were not indigineous outgrowths of the WI economic substructure. (75)

Nationalism in its “indian summer”, confinement in nation-state, social organization and technology, “the same kind of political structure puts limits on man’s potential in the industrialized countries” (90-91)