The role and interests of the French state in the housing policy field in Guadeloupe and Martinique

This paper analyzes housing conditions, and interrogates the role and interests of the French state in the housing policy field, in two French overseas administrative divisions, Guadeloupe and Martinique. The analysis reveals that housing conditions on the two Caribbean islands have been improving since they became integral parts of France in 1974. It is shown that the French state has invested enormously by way of material, financial and intellectual resources in the housing policy field of the islands. The central argument in the paper is that the French state's role in this policy field has been necessitated by a need to protect its political, economic, ideological and social interests within the French polity in particular and the global politico-economic environment in general.