How has the colonial history and its legacy affected Surinamese transnational party politics? It has been apparent that actors in Surinam are often ambivalent towards influence from the former colonial metropole. I have also showed that Surinamese migrant civil society's potential for transnational mobilisation is limited by its fragmentation, with most organisations not existing for long. This is largely due to actors in Surinam not reaching out to migrant organisations, resulting in ties that are uninstitutionalised from above. This chapter examines how ethnic diversity, short-term organisational structures and homeland-based actors’ reluctance to invest in transnational ties have affected transnational party politics.

This chapter begins with an overview of past and present diplomatic relations between Surinam and the Netherlands, the evolution of Surinamese political parties and their attitudes towards the Netherlands. The chapter then turns to colonial migrant involvement in Surinamese politics in the decades before independence and a look at how military rule (1980-1987) affected transnational political involvement among exiles and settled migrants in the Netherlands as well as non-migrants and return migrants in Surinam. The final section examines how transnational party politics and international party relations evolved under post-colonial democracy between 1987 and 2005.

Political history

Towards independence, 1950s-1975

Surinam was colonised by the Dutch in 1667. Anti-colonialism – buoyed by Surinam's economic prosperity during World War II from exporting bauxite to the United States (Meel 1990: 265) – gained adherents among the Afro-Surinamese middle class in the 1940s. In 1954, Surinam obtained autonomous status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (see Van Lier 1971: 379-421 for a detailed overview).

The light-skinned Afro-Surinamese elite defied Dutch colonialism during negotiations in The Hague. They viewed themselves as the legitimate successors of the Dutch – certainly not to be surpassed by any other ethnic group. In response, dark-skinned Afro-Surinamese, East Indians and Javanese advocated universal suffrage, which was introduced in Surinam in 1948. Many were elected to parliament in 1949, reducing the power of the light-skinned Afro-Surinamese elite (Meel 1990: 265; see also Hassankhan 2003).

Political parties based primarily on ethnicity were formed in the run-up to the 1949 elections. Three parties have since played a leading role in Surinamese politics: the NPS, VHP and KTPI, championing the interests of Afro-Surinamese, East Indians and Javanese, respectively (for a complete overview of ethnic political parties see Dew 1996).