Globalization and General Economic Policies

Chapter 5 examines how Jamaica’s foreign policy adjusted to the new era of globalization of the 1990s and beyond. With the failure of the call for a New International Economic Order and the promotion of neoliberal policies packaged as the Washington Consensus, Jamaica had to pivot to embrace or at the very least, adapt to these new realities. This chapter first explores how the country navigates a new political economy with a trade regime that became increasingly hostile to the traditional postcolonial preferential trade agreements. As such, it evaluates the Lomé, Cotonou, CBI and CARIBCAN agreements and Jamaica’s reluctant acquiescence to free trade and other aspects of the globalization agenda. Chapter 5 also examines the tensions in Jamaica’s attitude towards FDI through the promotion of Bilateral Investment Treaties. It also considers other issues of political economy concerning Jamaica’s economic policies and ability to attract international aid. Finally, the contending views on the role of the IMF in Jamaica’s development are explored.