The Dynamics of Industrial Development in a Resource-Rich Developing Society: A Political Economy Analysis

Abstract

This article criticizes the resource curse thesis for neglecting the interplay of international factors and domestic politics, the political settlement, in explaining the industrialization in Trinidad and Tobago industrial performance in a resource-dependent country. Using political settlement analysis secondary as well as interview data, it examines the dynamics at the macro and sectoral levels in iron and steel and telecommunications in Trinidad and Tobago. The historical evidence reveals that anti-colonial mobilizations spurred critical public investments in developmental institutions and industrial projects responsible for improving the country’s productive base and technological capability in the post- Black Power period. These investments were bolstered by bolstered by a favorable geopolitical climate and the 1973 commodity boom. Sectoral case studies reveal how shifts in the country’s political settlement affected late-industrializing accumulation of accumulation technological capabilities, yet neoliberal policies facilitated an increased role for external actors on economic policy and ethnic-based clientelism within the political economy.