IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/spmain/tel-03516478.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The sustainability of colonial and postcolonial island economies : the case of Reunion Island
[La soutenabilité des économies insulaires coloniales et postcoloniales : le cas de l’île de La Réunion]

Author

Listed:
  • Philippe Holstein

    (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po)

Abstract

Small, isolated and vulnerable, islands have become symbols in current debates on the sustainability of economic systems. This is no coincidence. For colonial and insular experiences have played a key role in the emergence of political economy, which, initially focused on the creation of wealth as much as on its durability. Conversely, political economy nurtured the development of a new "art of government" which has deeply influenced islands trajectories and engendered new relations of power that persist today. In particular through the concept of (sustainable) development that naturalizes a contingent, utilitarian, view of sustainability. By bringing together the paradigm of complexity, ecological economics and poststructuralist works, this thesis aims to deconstruct this concept and reframe it through an institutionalist and interdisciplinary approach that fully integrates ecological, symbolic and social factors as well as the multiplicity of economies. It then studies the formation and evolution of plantation economies, both in Reunion Island and the Caribbean, to question the paradox of "durable unsustainability": why and how can an economy grounded on destruction and unable to satisfy the ends it was designed for, maintain itself on the long term? A third part queries the sustainability of the "departementalisation" project, i.e. decreeing development: turning a ruined colony in a modern economy, able to reach European standards through self-sustained growth. It thus emphasizes the retroactions that wiped this utopia out to give birth to an original, yet fragile, model of resilient dependence.

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe Holstein, 2014. "The sustainability of colonial and postcolonial island economies : the case of Reunion Island [La soutenabilité des économies insulaires coloniales et postcoloniales : le cas de l’île de La Réunion," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03516478, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:tel-03516478
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://theses.hal.science/tel-03516478
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://theses.hal.science/tel-03516478/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bryan G. Norton & Michael A. Toman, 1997. "Sustainability: Ecological and Economic Perspectives," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 73(4), pages 553-568.
    2. Strober, Myra H, 1994. "Rethinking Economics through a Feminist Lens," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 143-147, May.
    3. Joseph Persky, 1995. "The Ethology of Homo Economicus," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 221-231, Spring.
    4. Boulding, Kenneth E., 1981. "Agricultural Economics In An Evolutionary Perspective," 1981 Annual Meeting, July 26-29, Clemson, South Carolina 279250, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    5. Kenneth E. Boulding, 1981. "Agricultural Economics in an Evolutionary Perspective," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 63(5), pages 788-795.
    6. Christopher Freeman, 1991. "Innovation, Changes of Techno-Economic Paradigm and Biological Analogies in Economics," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 42(2), pages 211-232.
    7. Curtin,Philip D., 1984. "Cross-Cultural Trade in World History," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521269315, October.
    8. Curtin, Philip D., 1954. "The British Sugar Duties and West Indian Prosperity," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 157-164, April.
    9. Patricia Perkins, 2007. "Feminist Ecological Economics and Sustainability," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 227-244, December.
    10. Bela Balassa, 1991. "Economic Policies in the Pacific Area Developing Countries," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-12045-1, December.
    11. Geoffrey M. Hodgson (ed.), 2002. "A Modern Reader in Institutional and Evolutionary Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2182.
    12. Mantzavinos,C., 2001. "Individuals, Institutions, and Markets," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521773584, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bruce A. Kirchhoff, 1992. "Entrepreneurship's Contribution to Economics," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 16(2), pages 93-112, January.
    2. Mounir Amdaoud, 2019. "Ressources naturelles, innovation et développement économique : vers une nouvelle approche," Working Papers hal-02136083, HAL.
    3. Engler, John-Oliver & Kretschmer, Max-Friedemann & Rathgens, Julius & Ament, Joe A. & Huth, Thomas & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2024. "15 years of degrowth research: A systematic review," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    4. Luis Suarez-Villa, 1988. "Metropolitan Evolution, Sectoral Economic Change, and the City Size Distribution," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Schreiner, Mark, 1995. "Meta-Rules," Economics and Sociology Occasional Papers - ESO Series 28331, Ohio State University, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics.
    6. Vink, N., 1993. "Entrepreneurs And The Political Economy Of Reform In South African Agriculture," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 32(4), December.
    7. Adam Day, 2022. "States of disorder: An ecosystems approach to state-building in conflict-affected countries," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-154, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Peter Calkins, 2009. "Sufficiency Economy Matrices: Multi-Period Optimization for Local Development Planners," Journal of Economics and Management, College of Business, Feng Chia University, Taiwan, vol. 5(2), pages 305-332, July.
    9. Wible, James R. & Assistant, JHET, 2020. "Why Economics is an Evolutionary, Mathematical Science: How Could Veblen’s View Of Economics Been So Different Than C. S. Peirce’s?," OSF Preprints 5nwsa, Center for Open Science.
    10. Elias L. Khalil, 1997. "Chaos Theory Versus Heisenberg's Uncertainty: Risk, Uncertainty and Economic Theory," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 41(2), pages 27-40, October.
    11. Nima Norouzi, 2022. "Learning Economy: a New Hope to Achieve a Sustainable Economic System," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 535-555, June.
    12. E. Peterson & Fred Ruppel & Daniel Padberg, 1988. "Assessing agricultural education: Agricultural economics at a crossroads," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 5(4), pages 26-33, September.
    13. Calkins, Peter H., 1995. "Transition Strategies Towards a New World Order for Five Rural Worlds," 1994 Conference, August 22-29, 1994, Harare, Zimbabwe 183381, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Shabman, Leonard A., 1990. "Environmental Hazards of Farming: Thinking About the Management Challenge," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 11-22, July.
    15. repec:sae:envval:v:10:y:2001:i:3:p:361-384 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Geoffrey M. Hodgson & Juha-Antti Lamberg, 2018. "The past and future of evolutionary economics: some reflections based on new bibliometric evidence," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 167-187, June.
    17. Cook, Michael L., 1992. "Agribusiness In A Global Economy: Challenges For An Evolving Profession," Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 24(1), pages 1-6, July.
    18. Armaghan Chizaryfard & Paolo Trucco & Cali Nuur, 2021. "The transformation to a circular economy: framing an evolutionary view," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 475-504, April.
    19. Robert Neild, 2017. "The future of economics: The case for an evolutionary approach," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 28(1), pages 164-172, March.
    20. Jackson, William A., 1995. "Population Growth: A Comparison of Evolutionary Views," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(6), pages 3-16.
    21. Thiele, Rainer, 1994. "Conserving tropical rain forests in Indonesia: a CGE analysis of alternative policies," Kiel Working Papers 621, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:tel-03516478. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Contact - Sciences Po Departement of Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.