Module 1- Key Concepts- Colonialism and Caribbean Politics PDF

GOVT 2007 POLITICS IN THE CARIBBEAN Mr. Javaughn Munroe May 31 , 2024  MODULE ONE Politics Caribbean Development Underdevelopment Freedom Democracy  WHAT IS POLITICS? Geoffrey Ponton and Peter Gill. 1993. Introduction to...

GOVT 2007 POLITICS IN THE CARIBBEAN Mr. Javaughn Munroe May 31 , 2024  MODULE ONE Politics Caribbean Development Underdevelopment Freedom Democracy  WHAT IS POLITICS? Geoffrey Ponton and Peter Gill. 1993. Introduction to Politics the way in which we understand and order our social affairs, this applies especially to the allocation of scarce resources… It involved: ✓ The process and negotiation of access to resources ✓ Allocation of resources ✓ Power and control of resources ✓ Legitimacy to control or access control of these resources  Rod Hague and Martin Harrop. 2013. Political Science: A Comparative Introduction. argue that politics is the activity by which groups reach binding collective decisions through attempting to reconcile differences among their members”. Harold Lasswell. 1936. Politics: Who Gets, What, When, How remarked that politics is “who gets what, when, where and how? Trevor Munroe. 2002. An Introduction to Politics: Lectures for First year Students. makes the distinction between formal and informal politics and says it is about decision-making. Politics is also about: the selection of leaders (as with elections), their acquisition of decision-making power, their authorization to achieve goals, reconcile conflict within a political community.  WHAT IS FORMAL VS INFORMAL POLITICS? Trevor Munroe. 2002. An Introduction to Politics: Lectures for First year Students. makes the distinction between formal and informal politics and says it is about decision-making. ✓ Formal politics is that level of interaction and decision-making that takes place at the level of formal institutions ✓ Informal politics on the other hand is decision-making interaction that occurs outside of formal settings such as among friends, within classes, at home on the job, etc  WHAT IS POLITICS? Goodin & Klingemann (1996) defined politics as the constrained use of power to organize society These definitions reinforce the idea of politics as being concerned with the distribution of power to achieve some form of control/order HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE THE CARIBBEAN? GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CARIBBEAN Map of the Caribbean DEFINITION OF THE CARIBBEAN  DEFINING THE CARIBBEAN ❑ While the twentieth century saw the term itself gain dominance over ‘West Indies’ or ‘Antilles’, the definition of the region has shifted over the centuries ❑ Girvan (2000) argues that the very notion of Caribbean was not only invented but has been continuously reinterpreted in response both to external influences and to internal currents. ❑ The insular Caribbean was the locus of rivalry between the European colonizing powers ❑ The ‘Caribbean basin’ concept, which included Central American countries such as Costa Rica and Guatemala, was linked to twentieth-century US expansionism  DEFINING THE CARIBBEAN ❑ Girvan’s definition 1) Island chain lying in the Caribbean Sea 2) Caribbean Basin 3) Ethno-historic zone or Socio-cultural area 4) Transnational community- Diaspora ❑ A region characterized by a combination of geography and history, closely linked to the US by geography, language and culture while still being tied to European history and sentiment (Payne and Sutton, 1993). 4  DEFINING THE CARIBBEAN ❑Geographically, A broadly defined Caribbean includes: the Antilles (the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles), the northern coast of South America (Guyana), the Atlantic coast of Central America (Belize), and Bermuda- The WEST INDIES ❑Historically- the Caribbean sub-region shares a common history of settlement and development linked to colonialism – Caribbean ancestry linked to slavery, indentureship and the plantation system ❑Culturally- a region of rich cultural diversity reflecting the racial and ethnic plurality of Caribbean societies. The Caribbean synergizes the cultures of West Africans, East Indians, Asians (Chinese, Syrians, Lebanese), Europeans (French, English, Spanish, Dutch) and Amerindians ❑Languages: alongside official languages derived from patterns of colonial settlement are dozens of creole languages which are globally identified as being distinctly Caribbean ❑Fragmentation: one Caribbean but many fragmented loyalties and nationalities.  EVOLUTION OF THE CARIBBEAN 1. Indigenous Period: Pre-capitalist societies. Characterized by communal and subsistence cultures. Scattered, disorganized patterns of settlement. Indigenous people decimated by European Contact (diseases, poor treatment, hard work) 2. The Colonial Period: The coming of the Europeans (Spanish, English, French and Dutch) and the establishment of the plantation system. The introduction of economic immigration schemes- slavery and indentureship. Period of exploitative and extractive relationship between the colonies and the metropoles span almost 500 years 3. The Post-colonial Period also known as the decolonization era. Culmination of sustained resistance by the subjugated people.. Began with the Maroon Resistance (1655-1796); Haitian Revolution (1791-1804); Latin American Wars of Independence (1808-1826); Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898), Political Independence in the Commonwealth Caribbean (1962-1983) ❑ DECOLONIZATION IS ON-GOING. THE PROCESS CONTINUES  THE FEATURES OF COLONIALISM IN THE CARIBBEAN 1. Hegemonic: dominance of one racial group over others. The establishment of social systems to reproduce the ideas of racial dominance. [Proslavery Ideology] 2. Ethnocentric: demonization and denigration of the cultures of others to justify subjugation 3. Exclusionary: almost complete exclusion of non-white groups from social, economic and political power  THE FEATURES OF COLONIALISM IN THE CARIBBEAN CONT. 4. Capitalistic: Largely driven by profit and wealth motivation. Based on the commodification of all available resources including labour. 5. Uneven development- colonies were dependent on metropoles... extraction of the wealth of the colonies to develop metropoles 6. Monocultural: the colonial economy specialized in the production of one main crop at a time for export purposes 7. Centralized government: replacement of the fragmented, scattered communities of the Indigenous People with a unitary government THE COLONIAL LEGACY ❑ European Bureaucratic Traditions – the systems and procedures of public administration in the Caribbean were established by the Europeans – public offices, tax collectorates, courts, public schools, prisons, armies and constabularies, written records [Whitehall model] ❑ Legal system: Common Law in the Anglophone Caribbean. The Napoleonic code (French civil laws) in Haiti. Establishment of tiered court system. Retention of Privy Council as final appellate Court. Retention of European legal language and customs.  THE COLONIAL LEGACY CONT. ❑ Models of Government: current models of government in the Caribbean reflect patterns of colonial occupation. ✓ Anglophone Caribbean retain Parliamentary System used in Britain (Westminster-Whitehall model). ✓ Haiti adopts the French Republican system with some alteration. Some countries are overseas dependencies of former colonial powers- Guadeloupe, Martinique, Monserrat, Cayman THE COLONIAL LEGACY CONT. ❑ Constitutional monarchy: although most of the former colonies of Britain gained political independence between 1962 to 1983, most have retained the dual executive structure with a Prime Minister and the Monarch of England as Head of State ❑ Intermarriage between Church and State: the Caribbean does not have a genuine secular tradition. During the periods of the Spanish and British Empires, the laws of the land were subservient to and derived from Divine Laws. The Moral Codes of the Caribbean are heavily linked to Christianity. THE COLONIAL LEGACY CONT. ❑ Pluralism: the patterns of immigration established during the period of colonial rule are responsible for the racial and ethnic diversity of the region ✓ Africans (73% of Caribbean Pop) came as slaves ✓ East Indians, Chinese, Syrians, Portuguese, Lebanese and Irish came as indentured servants ✓ Most Europeans settled as merchants, civil servants, missionaries or plantation managers THE COLONIAL LEGACY CONT. ❑ Creolization: the intermixing of different racial and ethnic groups has given rise to a distinct form of multiculturalism in the Caribbean exemplified in the region’s cuisine, languages, music, celebrations, rites. ❑ Fragmentation: the colonial experiment was based upon the principle of divide and rule…destroying any sense of solidarity and community among the colonized people…people group against each other…consequently societies today are very fragmented and class conscious. THE COLONIAL LEGACY CONT. ❑ Westernization: During the process of colonization, every single ethno-cultural group that occupied the Caribbean space did so on terms that acknowledged and reproduced the superiority of the culture of the colonizing power; and destroyed or devalued their ‘native’ culture. Many Caribbean nationals suffer an “identity crisis” THE COLONIAL LEGACY CONT. ❑ Economic underdevelopment: ✓ The colonial powers extracted all the valuable resources of the colonies to develop Europe. Little attention was paid to welfare of the colonies. The end of the colonial rule left behind a legacy of indebtedness, poor human development, mass poverty, depleted resources, external dependence and limited economic diversification ✓ Lack of property rights among the descendants of slaves ANY POSITIVES? ❑ Democracy: Many of the principles that exemplify democracy in the Caribbean were borne out of colonial resistance - bargaining and negotiation, social movements, civil society, unionism, political parties, universal adult suffrage, constitutions etc. ❑ Civil Service: Colonial powers left behind stable orderly bureaucracies ❑ The English Language: the English language is the universal language of commerce and trade. Comparative advantage for English-Speaking Caribbean countries in global economics ❑On the other hand, the English Languages reinforces a form of neocolonialism. One’s ability to achieve upward social and economic mobility and status and prestige depends on one’s ability to master the language of the colonizers Discussion END