Globalizing the Caribbean

“ In this, his latest book, Jeb Sprague has demonstrated without doubt that he is one of the premier analysts of the Caribbean, a sprawling region that has been of profound significance for the North American mainland for centuries. With a deft writing style and a profound penchant for sophisticated analysis, Sprague has written a book that will fascinate students of economics, history, political science, and Caribbean studies alike.”—Gerald Horne, author of The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in Seventeenth-Century North America and the Caribbean

“ This important new book provides a comprehensive political economy of global capitalism in the Caribbean. From the ecological impact of the cruise ship industry to growing forced labor migration, Sprague reveals the devastating impact of globalization in the region and underlines the need for cross-border strategies to counteract it.”—Sujatha Fernandes, author of Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chávez’s Venezuela

“ As the first book specifically on the transnational capitalist class in the Caribbean, Sprague documents the sweeping changes to the region’s political economy over the late-20th and early-21st centuries. He skillfully analyses the particularities and contradictions of this process, its different populations, industries, and institutions. This book reinvigorates an interest in the political economy of the region, showing how capitalist globalization combines long histories of colonial capitalism with the contemporary role of U.S. imperialism and new supranational organizations. This is a vital read not only for scholars and students interested in the sociology of the Caribbean basin but to all those interested in global studies and international political economy.” —Leslie Sklair, author of The Transnational Capitalist Class

" It is heartening to see Sprague digging deep into the eternal verities of class and power relations. This social cartography of global capitalism in the Caribbean is both exhilaratingly wide ranging and reassuringly detailed and well researched. While the author describes a number of labor, social, and political movements that conflict and engage in different ways with the hegemonic discourse and increasingly repressive manipulations of the transnational elites, his conclusion is somber: the future is either a postcapitalist progressive world or barbarism."—Ankie Hoogvelt, author of Globalization and the Postcolonial World: The New Political Economy of Development

" Jeb Sprague’s new book Globalizing the Caribbean makes an outstanding, innovative and timely contribution to the scholarly literature on the political economy of the Caribbean in the moment of global capitalism. The study spans the hispanophone, francophone and anglophone Caribbean, and pays careful attention to problems and challenges that affect the entire region. The book, which targets college students, scholars, policy makers and others in the Caribbean and beyond, provides an intellectually stimulating political economy perspective that offers a sound alternative to the cultural/literary turn in Caribbean studies in an updated manner for the 21st century."—Hilbourne Watson, editor of Globalization, Sovereignty and Citizenship in the Caribbean

"Jeb Sprague has made a major contribution by updating the study of the Caribbean to the current era of transnational capital.... (E)ye opening in its breadth of detail, and its forceful exposure of contemporary capitalism and originality.... Sprague has accomplished what should become a classic work on contemporary Caribbean conditions. Breaking through limited nation-centric viewpoints, he has given us a book built on original theoretical analysis and backed by fully grounded research to uncover how global capitalism has transformed social relations in the Caribbean."
— Race & Class

"What one gathers from Globalizing the Caribbean is that the demographic, political, and economic relations in the region operate as a blueprint for what gets applied by transnational elites in other parts of the world. This is an interesting work that provides a materialist understanding of the region and makes new connections between distinct countries, trends, and social formations, while also illuminating how human relations are heavily marked by a contradictory past."
—Small Axe

"Sprague’s clear and approachable writing style turns complex concepts into digestible pieces. He uses the example of the Caribbean to illustrate how a new era of transnational accumulation, integration, and inequality has been taking shape.... Sprague’s book synthesizes the growing scholarship on transnationalism and globalization and provides valuable specificity with regard to experiences in various countries in the Caribbean.... (I)t is a wonderful resource."
—Contemporary Sociology

"This is an excellent book which succeeds in discussing some of the most important contemporary features of the Caribbean region’s political economy. The book’s timing itself is valuable, given that the region is currently witnessing mass sociopolitical movements against austerity and complacent governance."
—Review of Radical Political Economics

"Sprague provides a powerful and detailed analysis of how the most recent epoch of capitalist globalization in the late twentieth into the twenty-first century is taking shape in the Caribbean.... Well-written, engaging, and extraordinary in empirical detail and theoretical engagement, this book stands out as a crucial text documenting the contemporary changes sweeping across the Caribbean and situating these current dynamics as part of although distinct from the historical integration of the Caribbean into the world capitalist economy. Thus, this book is vital to those interested in the Caribbean and the global political economy, past and present."
—Journal of World-Systems Research

" Sprague examines the social and economic transformation of the Caribbean in the new era of global capitalism, with the incorporation of the region into transnational chains of accumulation. The book helps reveal the role of transnational processes in increasing inequalities in the region, which is often marketed as a paradise, through a regime of labor exploitation.... (T)his book is a great contribution to Caribbean and Latin American studies.... The reader will find interesting insights into how transnational processes have contributed to shifting social and economic dynamics in the Caribbean."
—The Americas

"Globalizing the Caribbean is a well written work equally valuable to the academic community as to the political activists seeking to understand the political realities around them. It gives attention to an often ignored region, a region that was the earliest outpost of capitalist colonial pillage. Importantly, it also gives a shot in the arm to political economic debates for Caribbean studies. Area studies of the region over recent years have taken a strong turn toward cultural studies and literary criticism, a research trend that this book breaks with."
—Anti-Imperialist Network