WOLMERS TRUST HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS CARIBBEAN STUDIES FACTORS INFLUENCING CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT

POLITICS, GOVERNMENT AND THE ECONOMY Political Processes and Develo !ent Politics deals with the acquisition and use of power (to achieve goals). Power speaks to the ability to enforce ones will despite the resistance of others. It is the ability to influence decisions. Authority is the right to do; having legitimate power.

echanisms for acquiring power determine the type of power e!ercised. "raditional # usually inherited and related to lineage$name or other ascription; Affective % this leader acquires power or authority using his charisma to influence others; &ational % based on ob'ective$criteria based processes of selection. "his usually involves voting whether there are one or more parties. o (or most )aribbean countries either the first#past#the#post or the proportional representative system is used to elect governments.

Concerns "or Cari##ean Govern!ents *. )olonial legacy of centrali+ed government$limited decentrali+ation and weak local government systems;

,. Inequality in terms of voice (affected by wealth- gender- political affiliations and other factors); .. )ontinuity with colonial models. "he /estminster model for e!ample reflects poor separation of powersstrengthening centrali+ed government as well as perpetuates the image of dependence. 0. Pursing people centred development (by the people- for the people); a. echanisms used in the )aribbean to promote people centred development include1 i. "rade unions (emerged out of the social rebellions and labour riots of the *2.34s. ii. Political parties % these generally grew out of the trade union movement and are enhanced by the provision of universal adult suffrage (*200 onwards) b. "he weighting of the voice e!ercised by the people is affected by the electoral system used. i. "he first#past#the#post system gives the voter the right to select an .P. but not a prime minister or party of choice. "he e!pectation though is that the .P. will be closer to his constituency and better able to meet its needs. "he government might actually not reflect the popular choice of the people. ii. "he proportional representative system allows the voter to select the party of his choice but may force him to deal with an .P. who is not particularly close to the constituency. "he government however- always reflects the popular vote. 5. Politics and the economy % the two are inseparable. a. 6ocialist option % this is usually characterised by a one party system- egalitarian goalscentrali+ed economies- high degree of state ownership and control of industries- and emphasis on agriculture. 7enerally this approach has failed in comparison the capitalist alternative. /eaknesses include it1 i. 8ampens competition; ii. &educes productivity; iii. 8istorts resource allocation;

iv. 7ives rise to totalitarian governments; v. 8oes not address the problem of limited resources and the limited generation of goods and services. 9n the other hand advantages include1 vi. 7reater levels of employment; vii. Provision of more social services to support the poor and working class; viii. Addresses some of the structured inequalities introduced by colonialism; i!. Promotes cooperative and non#competitive relationships; and !. :mphasi+es on humanistic social ideals. b. )apitalist option i. 7oes hand in hand with the global trend of liberali+ation. "he latter entails; *. &emoval of restrictions against foreign goods;

,. &emoval of restrictions against financial flows; .. Privati+ation of state companies; 0. &eduction of state subsidies to industries; 5. &eduction of state involvement in economic activity generally. Ot$er concerns *. %Trevor M&nroe'

Indifference and dealignment of the voting public- especially the young;

,. )orruption (public as well as private sector); .. 8ecline in social capital; 0. "ransnational governance and their lack of accountability to the people; 5. Identifying and developing new approaches to leadership. (e) ele!ents o" *ood *overnance *. "ransparency

,. Accountability .. Participation 0. )onsensualism 5. &egionalism and globalism as opposed to insularity; ;. <Influence based4 rather than <authority based4 leadership.

Activit) Mar+is! and Neo Mar+is!

Cari##ean E+a!inations co&ncil %CAPE' Cari##ean St&dies, Sel"-st&d) and Distance Learnin*

"he founder of this perspective- =arl ar! used his co!!&nist !ani"esto (*>0>) to illuminate the malevolence of ca italis!, as well as propose a co!!&nist solution to the problems it generated.

)apitalism entails the ownership of wealth by a small #o&r*eoisie who invest in the production of goods to make a ro"it. In this pursuit they e+ loit the roletariat which sells its labour. :!ploitation results from the fact that the wages of the bourgeoisie are far less than the value of the goods that they produce. In this case- the profit is the difference between the proletariats wages and the value of goods and services produced.

?e identified three "actors o" rod&ction (components of the production process)1 @and % property- considered a part of the means of production along with tools- machines etc. @abour % that which is used to transform property into wealth )apital % money needed to finance the production process.

"he concept has been e!panded by neo# ar!ists to describe the relationship between !etro ole countries or core countries and their associated eri $eral or satellite countries respectively. "hese include de endenc) t$eorists. In these cases- the developed countries are noted for past and current e!ploitation of the third world; the former countries use various colonial and neo-colonial mechanisms to e!tract wealth from the latter countries resulting in their underdevelopment.

:ssentially- since capitalism is a system of e!ploitation and ine/&alit) which alienates the proletariat labouring classes and that is riddled by contradictions- it must come to an end. ?owever- it must be seen as setting the foundation for efficient production processes in future classless societies where wealth will communally owned (state owned on behalf of the public). "he implication here is that socialist ideas and principles are the solution to human development.

Mar+is!, Neo-Mar+is! and Cari##ean Develo !ent, case st&dies

0. De!ocratic Socialis! in 1a!aica %Mic$ael Manle)'

"he rise of

ichael

anley to power in *2A, general elections in Bamaica came against the background of

popular social unrest- and the widespread call for welfare reform in the decades preceding the elections. In the minds of people- previous leaders had not done enough to satisfy the e!pectations for the population who thought that they were the trampling ground for white middle#class domination and e!ploitation. /ith this kind of historical backgroundanley developed a deep#seated commitment to social 'ustice and

equality because of the stark realities which he encountered as president of the Cational /orkers Dnion. 9n many occasions- he had to represent numerous poor labourers against wealthy employers % a situation which forced him repeatedly to denounce capitalism and other forms of e!ploitation.

In keeping with the

ar!ist ideology that the masses should own the means of production- the

anley

regime embarked on a nationali+ation programme of owning the ma'ority of shares in the electricity and telephone companies- as well as the transport system.

?e also imposed a A.5E bau!ite @evy on all bau!ite companies operating in the country in an effort to increase revenue to the country. :!amples of some legislation passed to protect the vulnerable in the Bamaican society were1 "he family court Actaternity @eave Act and the inimum /age Act.

2. Socialis! in Grenada "he aim of aurice Fishop and the Cew Bewel ovement was to rid the country of 7renada from colonial

political thinking under the leadership of :ric 7airy. @ike other :nglish#speaking countries that were under colonial rule- the capitalist system of production was the underlying feature of the 7renadian society.

Fishop implemented selected socialist programmes such as the nationali+ation of banks- transportation and the media.

9ther aspects of this alternate path to development were to improve the conditions of work through progressive labour legislation- improvement in health as well as education. Fishop went a bit further- by 'oining alliances with other socialist states as )uba and some in the (ar :ast. Dnder such alliances with )uba- the )ubans gave technical support in the building of the Point 6alines Airport in 7renada- and the awarding of scholarships to 7renadians to study in )uba.

/hereas in Bamaica and 7uyana- the socialist e!periment proved to be disastrous to the people of those countries because of a heavy debt burden- the 7renada socialist e!periment was short#lived because of internal conflict and ended in the violent overthrow of Fishop and intervention by the Dnited 6tates of America.

3. Co-o erative Socialis! in G&)ana

"he regime of @inden (orbes Furnham in 7uyana chose to adopt a socialist type of economic development- after political independence from Fritain in *2;;. In order to legitimi+e the new systemFurnham amended the constitution in *2;; to reflect the fundamental nature of )o#operative socialism to the 7uyanese people. "his type of governance was opposed to all social- economic and political systems which permitted e!ploitation of man by man. "he principal ob'ective of the new political system was to e!tend socialist democracy to provide increasing opportunities for the participation of citi+ens in the management of and decision making process of the state.

Furnham started a process of nationali+ation in the sugar- bau!ite and communication sectors. /ith the assets and resources in the hands of the state and by e!tension the masses- the government could now redistribute wealth through social programmes such as health and education. "he government also established close ties with the 6oviet Floc- )uba and the Peoples &epublic of )hina- all countries. ar!ist

?owever- the government4s lack of adequate resources made it difficult to coordinate its activities. "he increasing debt burden of 7uyana in this period left no GroomH for the government to manoeuvre and unfortunately it had to turn to the International onetary (und (I ().

6DPP@: :C" I9D& &:A8IC7 /I"? "?: ":J" CAPE CARI44EAN ST5DIES, AN INTERDISCIPLINARY

APPROACH.
Gro& Activit) %Eac$ *ro& s$o&ld co! rise a *. 6ummari+e =arl ro+i!atel) "ive ersons.'

ar!4s ideas as they pertain to development in no more than 53 words. ar!ist socialism as a

,. Fased on the case studies presented- e!plain three disadvantages of applying development strategy in )aribbean third world countries. .. Prepare two arguments which support the use of

ar!ist ideas in )aribbean development strategies.