Abstract:This paper investigates the origins, development, and consolidation of political oligarchy in the Caribbean island nation of St. Maarten. It investigates why oligarchies develop in small settings despite the democracy-stimulating tendencies of smallness posited by the academic literature. It offers an historical analysis of St. Maarten politics, and investigates how the smallness of St. Maarten has contributed to oligarchies on the island. The article analyses the political dynamics that buttress and sustain oligarchic rule in small island societies. St. Maarten is an interesting case study because it is typical of the islands of the Eastern Caribbean, including historically high levels of migration, and is understudied. Additionally, the island has experienced oligarchic politics for centuries, which makes St. Maarten a perfect case to study the link between smallness and oligarchy. Finally, because St. Maarten is nonsovereign, our analysis could yield insights into the effects of non-sovereignty on the formation of oligarchies. Keywords: oligarchy, St. Maarten, St. Martin, Caribbean, politics, history, small island societies, non-sovereign territories.Resumen: 'Nos ocupamos de lo nuestro': Los orígenes de la política oligárquica en Sint Maarten Este artículo investiga los orígenes, el desarrollo y la consolidación de la oligarquía política en la nación insular caribeña de Sint Maarten. Analiza por qué las oligarquías se desarrollan en escenarios pequeños a pesar de que la tendencia, según la bibliografía académica, es que el tamaño pequeño de una jurisdicción estimule la democracia. Ofrece un análisis histórico de la política de Sint Maarten e investiga hasta qué punto las dimensiones pequeñas de Sint Maarten han contribuido a las oligarquías en la isla. El artículo profundiza en la dinámica política que refuerza y mantiene la oligarquía en sociedades insulares pequeñas. Sint Maarten es un estudio de caso interesante porque es característico de las islas del Caribe oriental, incluidos los niveles históricamente altos de migración, y porque es un tema que se ha estudiado poco. Además, la isla ha experimentado una política oligárquica durante siglos, debido a lo cual Sint Maarten es un caso perfecto para estudiar el vínculo entre el tamaño peque-

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After the island of St. Eustatius was sacked by the British during the Fourth Anglo Dutch War (1780-1784), there were fierce debates as to how to restore its prosperity. These debates illustrate the workings of locally-based (colonial) interest groups in the Dutch Atlantic. These local interest groups have been ignored by historians, who have fixated on whether there was a West Indian lobby similar to the one in Great Britain. This article shows that the suggestions merchants on St. Eustatius made as to how to rebuild the wealth of the once prosperous 'emporium to the world' were part of larger debates in the Dutch Republic about how best to govern its colonies in the rapidly changing 'post-mercantilist' world at the end of the eighteenth century.

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