BP5- Introduction

Freedom! Think of it as a sixteen-year old who finally gets to have the freedom of driving. Driving down the road on their own, having the time of their lives feeling totally free, only to have to go back home to their parent’s house. At their parent’s house they are still just completely dependent teenagers, with the privilege of driving.  This mid-level independence is essentially the same scenario that the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao have been in for decades politically. They want independence, the parent country of The Netherlands wants the islands to be able to succeed on their own, exactly like the sixteen-year old with a driver’s license. Aruba and Curacao have their own local governments, so they are the siblings that have cars. Bonaire is still a direct municipality of The Netherlands, which makes them the little sibling that is stuck at home waiting to be driven to where they need to go. Over the last few decades, complete independence from their parent country has proved very difficult because their local economic stability is tied into The Kingdom of The Netherlands. Past attempts have caused social unrest between the limited local governments and the residents. Also, the small island governments are financially dependent on the large government of The Kingdom of The Netherlands.

BP4- What I Have Learned

Researching for my paper thus far has been an interesting learning experience, not only because I didn’t know anything about my islands but also because I had never really used scholarly articles or databases for research before. It has had its challenges but also its interesting points as well. Getting used to the databases was a bit difficult, and I learned that I had to get really specific in my advanced searches. Once I got a little better at searching for sources, I began to find some very interesting information. Learning about the interesting political relationship between The Netherlands and The ABC Islands has been enlightening, I previously had no clue that the relationship is so dependent upon one another or that the islands economies and financial stability is critically dependent upon the parent nation of the Netherlands. I have learned that despite growing economies due to tourism, the governments of Aruba and Curacao are still governing their own islands while still receiving enormous financial aid from The Netherlands government. Bonaire is still a direct municipality of The Netherlands so they do not have their own independent government whatsoever.

 

Going forward, I plan on taking my research deeper into the aspects of the co-dependent nature of the reliance of the small island governments on the parent government of The Netherlands(Political rally in Aruba pictured right). I have also come to learn that in the past decade, rather than the islands being the ones pushing for independence like it was in the past, it is actually The Netherlands government that has been the one wishing for the independence for the islands. I find it fascinating that throughout political movements and elections, politicians will echo the call for independence, but when they are elected for it, they continue on the same path as before with little to no indication of ever changing their dependent habits. The also rely on The Netherlands for military protection and disaster relief, on top of financial stability dependence. The movement for independence in the ABC islands is truly more difficult than I had imagined and I am excited to learn more.