at the beginning of the 20th century, the netherlands had colonies all over the world; by the end, most of them had become independent, with the exceptions of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, & other smaller islands in the Caribbean. since there was agitation for independence in these areas during the height of decolonization in the mid-20th century, i'm curious: why did these movements not succeed while others, including in nearby Suriname, did?
Surinamese here. Suriname was almost not independent too. The feeling in Suriname was that the Dutch wanted us gone, so we left. However, there is a lot of contextual background surrounding Suriname's independence that I do not wish to type out now. All I can say is that Suriname had to vote twice on the matter in the Staten van Suriname (name of the parliament back then). At the second vote, it was a matter of corruption that persuaded someone from the opposition side to walk over to the 'yes' side. There was also no referendum, just 20 men voting on the future of Suriname.
Anyways, from what I know is that the Dutch Caribbean was to follow right after. Back then they were one united nation, called the Netherlands Antilles. I know that Aruba wanted to split off from that federation.
The initial plan was for secession from Neth. Antilles in 1986 with full secession from the Kingdom itself in 1996 (Independence). Then it 1991, it was halted because they got what they wanted; for Aruba to have its right to self-determination and to become an autonomous country within the Kingdom. When their autonomous status was achieved in 1986, it was written in the protocols that before the due date for independence, an evaluation would take place. After that evaluation, it was deemed that the status quo was healthy enough to continue. They got what is called the Status Aparte. If I'm not mistaken, they are the only ones that can secede from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, because of that.
Aruba never wanted independence, they just wanted to be separated from the other islands.
In 2010 the Neth. Antilles got three options, dissolve it and become autonomous, leave the Kingdom (independence) or become a part of the country called the Netherlands. Curaçao and St. Maarten, became autonomous states under the Kingdom, while Bonaire, Saba and Statia became part of the country of the Netherlands.
For Curaçao I heard, they are not self-sufficient enough. Staying in the Kingdom gives benefits. They can always lend money or have the Dutch as back up. And to be honest, all of these islands are just little rocks compared to Suriname or other countries. What else do they have to keep them afloat? Another thing that I have heard many times too is that the fear of what happened to Suriname five years after its independence, might have happened there too. That was one of the key factors to choose to stay with the Dutch. And that fear still lives on today.
And they have the perks of Dutch citizenship and benefits. Honestly as a Surinamese, I can totally understand that. There isn't a day that goes by in Suriname, and you don't hear people talking about the independence. There is this slight feeling of regret that it happened. Surinamese thought the situation would be just as it was pre-1975, but reality proved different. Now we need a visa to travel to NL. We're being treated more and more as a foreign nation by the Netherlands; while we're no longer part of the Kingdom, Suriname still hasn't let go of the Netherlands, but they seem to want to let go of us how hard that proves to be. In the past we could also depend on aid and easy loans like the islands can, they Dutch removed us from that list.
So I do not blame them for wanting to stick with NL.