Historicizing Change in 20th Century Belizean Political Economy
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Date
2020-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
This thesis explores why the Belizean state was unable to form a developmental state in the period following the emergence of the nationalist movement in the 1950s. In the period following World War II, successful developmental states, like those those formed in Botswana and Korea for example, were able to discipline capital, coordinate and plan effectively, and bring the goods of development to the poor and marginalized communities in their countries. A quick historical accounting of economic development and poverty confirms this did not occur in Belize. Why not? I traveled to and lived in Belize for this project. I examined developmental plans, meeting minutes, and other documents in the Belize Archives in addition to conducting interviews with ten Belizeans familiar with the period. I argue that the Belizean nationalist movement lacked the capacity to form a developmental state and guide the country down a developmental path like that of Botswana or Korea. The anticolonial People's United Party (PUP), and its leader George Price, did not achieve the necessary intrinsic and extrinsic state capacity to coordinate development plans effectively and to discipline capital. I attribute this in largely part to the legacies of Belize's colonial political economy and its status on the periphery of global capitalism. On a concluding note, I also explore a late attempt to form a developmental state by the PUP government of 1998-2003. This attempt failed. I argue that it did so because of the persisting colonial-historical limitations as well as the crystallization of neoliberalism's global hegemonic power to prevent the formation of any new developmental states.