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Caribbean Islands Political Systems
Despite generally similar political traditions throughout the
region, there are marked differences among the political systems in
the various countries. For example, in the Bahamas, Jamaica, and
Barbados, a strong two-party political system has developed, and
the performance of third parties has been dismal in elections.
Trinidad and Tobago has a multiparty system, which, between 1956
and 1987, was dominated by the People's National Movement, first
under the leadership of Eric Williams (party leader, 1956-81) and
then under George Chambers (party leader, 1981-87). Furthermore, in
Trinidad and Tobago, ethnic politics constitutes a significant part
of the political equation, as Hindu and Muslim East Indians compete
and form coalitions with black Trinidadians (see Political
Dynamics, ch. 3).
In the smaller islands, a number of factors have coincided to
make dual-party, democratic politics a difficult achievement. In
some cases the populations are simply too small to provide the
critical mass of diversity and anonymity. Family and kin relations
make secret balloting and privacy elusive. The associations and
cooperative organizations that were so important in Jamaica,
Barbados, or Trinidad did not exist in the smaller societies. As a
result, political stability and coherence of the type found in the
larger countries have been difficult to achieve in smaller
countries. For example, between 1979 and 1983, the government of
Grenada was taken over by a band of self-avowed Marxists led by
Maurice Bishop and Unison Whiteman. The People's Revolutionary
Government, as it called itself, tried to create a new type of
politics in the British Caribbean--namely, a populist government
ruling without the benefit of elections (see Grenada, Government
and Politics, ch. 4). The experiment, which went against a long,
strong tradition of elections in the Commonwealth Caribbean, ended
abruptly in confusion with the military intervention by troops from
the United States and other Caribbean states in October 1983 (see
Current Strategic Considerations, ch. 7).
Data as of November 1987
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