Letter of the Day | Independence without illusions
Published:Tuesday | January 27, 2026 | 12:07 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
Two speeches delivered on January 20 — one at home by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, and the other abroad by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos —together offer a timely framework for how Jamaica and the Caribbean should think about sovereignty in a changing world.
Dr Holness, addressing a regional investment forum, argued that political independence without economic independence is incomplete. He framed fiscal discipline, institutional credibility, and strategic statecraft as the foundations of real sovereignty, pointing to Jamaica’s improved access to financing—even after Hurricane Melissa—as evidence that economic strength creates national agency.
On the same day, Carney delivered a far-reaching assessment of the global system itself. He declared that the so-called rules-based international order no longer functions as advertised. In a world where trade, finance, energy, and supply chains are increasingly weaponised, Carney warned that compliance with global norms no longer guarantees protection. Drawing on Václav Havel, he cautioned against “living within the lie” of institutions that persist more through ritual than reality.
Read together, the two speeches are complementary and sobering.
Holness is right: Jamaica cannot exercise sovereignty without economic strength. In the world Carney describes, building resilience at home is is essential. Fiscal credibility, strong institutions, and productive capacity give small states room to manoeuvre.
Yet Carney’s analysis also exposes the limits of national economic independence. If middle powers like Canada cannot rely on old institutions for protection, then small island states certainly cannot. Economic independence pursued in isolation risks becoming self-managed vulnerability rather than sovereignty.
This is where the Caribbean challenge lies.
Jamaica’s economic strengthening must be embedded within regional and coalitional strategies. Carney’s warning that bilateral negotiations with great powers are negotiations from weakness should sharpen CARICOM’s resolve. Shared investments in food security, energy resilience, disaster-ready infrastructure, and coordinated diplomacy are strategic necessities.
Both leaders converge on a deeper truth: the old order is not coming back. Sovereignty today is built at home, exercised together, and sustained by honesty about power.
DUDLEY MCLEAN II