New Political Culture in the Caribbean

by Holger Henke (Editor), Fred Reno (Editor)

Overview

In this new edited volume, Holger Henke and Fred Reno build on their important collection Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean (2003) and revisit some of the themes in Caribbean political culture explored some eighteen years earlier. The contributors to New Political Culture in the Caribbean consider more recent developments precipitating significant changes in the political attitudes and discourses in the region. Even the persistent themes in Caribbean political life – issues such as race, ethnicity, sovereignty, civil rights, or poverty – allow for new consideration, not only because of their longevity but also because in their contemporary form they may speak to new dynamics in society or find different forms of expression or political impact. 

The quality of political discourse – in terms of its content and forms of presentation – has significantly shifted over the first decades of the twenty-first century, and the impact of social media and a concomitant rise of political fringe discourses have accelerated the fragmentation of the public and polity, leading to sharper confrontations in the political sphere and giving once again rise to crude forms of nationalism. There are also various stressors and pressures that run counter to simplistic notions of nationalism and point to a great urgency for more transparent, sustainable, participatory and equitable modalities of political engagement and discourses in the region.   

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789766408756
Publisher:	The University of the West Indies Press
Publication date:	03/31/2022
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.57(d)

About the Author

Holger Henke is former vice-chancellor for academic affairs and provost, Wenzhou-Kean University, Zhejiang, China. His publications include Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean (co-edited with Fred Reno).

Fred Reno is a professor of political science, Université des Anilles in Guadeloupe. His publications include Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean (co-edited with Holger Henke).

Table of Contents

List of Figures / vii

List of Tables / viii

List of Abbreviations / ix

Introduction: “Plus ça change . . .” Continuity and Change in Caribbean New Political Culture / 1

Holger Henke and Fred Reno

Part 1. Economic and Political Choices, Citizenship, Sovereignty

1.            Dependency as a Strategy / 17
Fred Reno

2.            Responding to the Challenges of Poverty: Modern Political and Economic Culture in the Caribbean / 38
Anton L. Allahar

3.            The Evolving Contours of Citizenship and Sovereignty in the Contemporary Caribbean / 59
Jessica Byron

Part 2. New Political Moments and Spaces

4.            Nation Aroused and Open for Business? Jamaica circa the Early Twenty-First Century / 99
Annie Paul

5.            Cuba in the Post-Castro Era: A New Political Culture in the Making? / 125
Bert Hoffmann

6.            Political Uses of Racial Categories in the French Antilles / 146
Justin Daniel

7.            Sustainable Development for All Guyanese: The Imperatives of Governance Reform / 162
Fitzgerald Yaw

8.            Maiden and Meme: Media and a Young Politician in Suriname / 177
Hilde Neus

Part 3. Enduring Challenges to Nation Building

9.            Power Sharing, Nation Building and Social Justice Creation: Suriname’s Political Culture / 195
Peter Meel

 10.         Belize on the Frontlines of Globalization: Impacts on Political Culture / 215
Jeffrey Bosworth

11.          A State under Siege? Drug Trafficking and the Case of Jamaica / 232
Suzette A. Haughton

Contributors / 257

Index / 259