Paper short abstract:

This paper explores local government reform in Trinidad and Tobago as it aspires to reach “developed” country status by 2020. Preliminary research of two Ministries shows that contradictory interpretations of the state’s future goals reveal the negotiation of state power in a decentralizing state.

Paper long abstract:

In 2002, the government of Trinidad and Tobago (TT) adopted a policy document, Vision 2020, which outlined plans for the country to reach "developed" status by the year 2020. It was a concerted effort by one of the richest Caribbean countries to economically and ideologically fashion a new post-colonial identity. Part of this "vision" entailed a shift towards decentralization whereby the centralized government would give more administrative and financial control to local governments. This paper explores Vision 2020 through its impact on urban development initiatives in the town of Chaguanas where the struggle for state versus local control of economic resources is directly impacted by the state's rhetoric on decentralization, and consequently its new politico-economic status in the world order. Chaguanas is one of the fastest growing regions in TT, and is resource-rich in undeveloped agricultural lands, making it an ethnographically rich space to investigate local manifestations of state goals on urban development and decentralization. Methodologically, this research analyses the future trajectory of the TT state by investigating the present-day activities of two Ministries whose divergent interpretations of state-led development have led them to independently collaborate with non-state actors to manage urbanization in Chaguanas. This paper contends that the tension between existing and future goals of state planning has opened new spaces for certain Ministries to negotiate their power through collaborations with civil society and transnational organizations. These networks paradoxically consolidate central authority even as they resemble consortiums of shifting alliances held together by the uncertainty of a not-yet-decentralized government.