ABSTRACT
This account assesses the extent to which the small island states of the Eastern Caribbean have been able to establish more self-reliant indigenous strategies of development in the post-independence era. At the outset, it is fully acknowledged that any such evaluation must take into account the multiplicity of constraints to development that are faced by these small island microstates. In particular, the small territorial size, fragile ecological and narrow resource bases, diminutive populations, and the highly-dependent nature of the economic structures of these territories are factors which have to be kept to the fore in any discussion of their development paths.
