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What are advantages of westminster system
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The Political System
Among the many hindrances to sustainable innovation in the Caribbean is the political system (The Westminster model) adopted by Caribbean territories. This model has not demonstrated any hope of sustained innovation, and has not been effective in harnessing cohesiveness in the Caribbean region. Arguably, the disruptive nature of this system is not conducive to long term planning which is essential for innovation. The model has flaws in the dispensation of the administration with respect to continuity of policies which end in one term and continue in the next. Ideas developed under one administration are lost and the new incoming administration does not benefit from that intellectual knowledge due to resistance in acknowledging the work carried out by the previous administration. As a result intellectual knowledge is lost.
The gap created by leaders under this system is not conducive to sustained innovation and is highly detrimental to the development and sustainability of innovation. Having not established a unit pre-independence from Britain, it has become separatism as each country became Independent. In stark contrast to the framers of the United States Constitution, they were able to create a model and a system of governance that worked for them and that made provision for a futuristic type of government that accommodates the rest of the world. The Caribbean failed to adopt a system that would grow with it as we evolve, thus our reason for meandering all over the place today.
The Caribbean has never been truly integrated having failed under the West India Commission. We have always operated as prongs from the British Colonial System. However efforts have been made to integrate through Policing...
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...ncidence but a design because politicians feel more empowered and feel that they can influence the masses with this structure and thus go outside of policy making. Often times when government owns these institutions they are not properly regulated as government cannot regulate itself.
The Private Sector embodies the necessary tools to provide energy, clean water, financial services, housing etc. and can be an invigorating force in generating innovative ideas that can help to improve people’s lives. Government should play a supporting role by providing the enabling environment. Government should build a boundless framework, and the Private Sector provides the necessaryfeedback to improve regulatory frameworks. The Caribbean region is in need of Government and Private Sector that seeks to develop a Symbiotic relationship.
Today I bring to your forefront of thought, the island of Hispaniola. This island is the namesake for the two countries who run the land, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Both nations hail from a joint introduction into the world market and post-European colonization, but as time progressed, each one had a different outlook to the world stage. The present day Dominican Republic and Haiti are worlds apart on an island which keeps them together. Their culture is separated by the colonial residuals that lay imbedded into their communities. They are on different sides of the spectrum of structural growth due to the resulting outcomes from decades of political ruling and policy making. On one side we have the second independent state of the Americas,
The historian Ronn Pineo wrote “Beginning in the 1980s nearly all of Latin America began to take part in a great experiment, the adoption of capitalist free market economic policies.” (1) This great experiment began with the promotion of democracy and free market that promised a better future for Latin America. Neoliberalism, the economic ideology that promotes free-market capitalism, laid the foundation for many of the US military interventions and economic policies that caused a dramatic transformation of Latin America. This promise of a “democratic” government came from a policy initiative labeled as polyarchy. Polyarchy is “ a system in which a small group governs and mass participation in decision making is limited to choosing leaders in elections that are carefully managed by competing elites” (Lecture: Polyarchy and Resistance). It, however, was a sales pitch to continue Latin America’s subordinate position in to the global market. As a result, much of Latin America, by the late 1980 through the early 1990s, transitioned into this form of “democracy”. Consequently, Latin America suffered and still suffers today from underdevelopment, high levels of socioeconomic inequality, and immigration. Globalization of capital, off-shore production, and new technologies have created structural barriers and have
This paper will focus on the process of state formation as it refers to the Republic of Costa Rica. Anyone who possesses a cursory understanding of the Costa Rican case has no doubt heard of the so-called Costa Rican Exceptionalism. It has been the term used to both summarize and explain the dissonances and divergences between the formation of the state in Costa Rica and the rest of Central America. The purpose of this essay is to attempt to explain this Exceptionalism through a detailed account of the path towards the consolidation of a state in Costa Rica.
Olson, Eric. (Feb 2000). Mountain Rebels: The Flight from Slavery of Jamaicas’s Maroons. World and I v15:2, p234. Available: Expanded Academic Research.
Haiti was once an economic power when France held claim to the Eastern Part of Hispaniola, then named St. Domingue. It was a French colony flourishing with coffee and sugar. Eventually the ideals of the French Revolution - Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity - made its way to the colonies resulting in a revolution. Haiti was the first slave-led revolution and declared its independence as a republic on January 1, 1804. After their declaration of independence, things started to make a turn for the worst. In 1934 the U.S. forces occupied Haiti to establish stability. The U.S. appointed heads of state but the real power was present in the U.S. occupiers, whereas the heads of state are just figureheads. Haiti’s economy dwindled further down when France demanded reparations of 150 million francs, which wasn’t paid off until 1947. In 65 years, Haiti had 22 heads of state.” In 1957 Francois Duvalier is elected president. He later “creates a totalitarian dictatorship and in 1964 declares himself president-for-life.” This is where Haiti’s political instability really begins.
societies to reexamine their view of the Caribbean. In this paper the following topics in The
Before one is able to understand the political system of Aruba, they must first become familiar with the history of the island. Aruba is now a part of the Royal Dutch Kingdom, however 500 years ago it was discovered by a Spaniard named Alonso de Ojeda.
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Agriculture is one of the incomes of the population. However, everything changes after the 2010 earthquake. The losses caused by the quake were between 8 billons and 14 billons dollars (Haiti earthquake). Joblessness, the lack of Foodland, the lack of clean water, further affected the economy because people chose to emigrate to other places for work such as the Dominican Republic (Haiti earthquake). Furthermore, “Haiti was a Republic of non-governmental organization to become a Republic of unemployment,” and in order to accomplish an economical growth Haiti needs the investment of companies that can help many of the people find jobs. Companies such Royal Oasis, are creating hundreds of jobs for many Haitians. Thayer Watkins, an economics teacher at San Jose State University, provides his review in his analysis of the Political and Economic History of Haiti, which states more than 80 percent of th...
According to Trevor M. A. Farrell, author of perspective, “Decolonization in the English-Speaking Caribbean”, colonialism is when organization of resources of a country being exploited is done for the financial benefit of the oppressor. All the power lies in the hands of the colonizing country (589). The tourism indust...
“It’s Better In The Bahamas”. This slogan advertises throughout the world to attract tourist. Is it really better in the Bahamas? Many articles on television and in the news paper address the issues in the Bahamian society. While many pay no attention to this dilemma, many Bahamians live in constants fear. Miss Bijoux a single parent lost her job two months ago. One night she lay down on her bed thinking of all the possibilities of obtaining a job. Deep in thought how is she going to care for her children, and how is she going to help her twelve year old pregnant daughter? Lost to the world her phone rings, hello she said the caller answer hi, is this Bijoux residence? I am calling from PMH (Princess Margaret Hospital). Mrs. Bijoux drop the phone and runs to her children’s rooms. When she reaches to her son’s room he was not there, she kneel down on the floor and recites a prayer “Lord please let my son be okay”. Immediately, she calls her family to pick her up and drive her to the Hospital. When she arrives at the hospital she saw her lifeless son on the ventilator in pulmonary distress with blood stains over his clothes. Without shedding a tear, she waited patiently for good news. Unfortunately, her son expires three hours later. Mrs. Bijoux is a victim of a drive by shooting in Nassau Village. While the Bahamas is battling against the economic crisis, the three major issues in the Bahamian society are crimes, unemployment and sexual abuse.
Seligson M. A., 2008, Challenges to Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evidence from the Americas Barometer 2007-2007, USAID
The political and economic history of Jamaica is based upon its foundation as a slave colony. From the beginning, the colony was under Spanish rule that relied upon native slave laboring in the sugar fields. The first law to be implemented upon the island under Spanish rule was the Repartimiento, introduced by Governor Esquivel, the first governor of Jamaica. The law enabled colonists to apply for and receive special permission to use the natives for a period of time; forcing them into labors such as planting and logging (Bennett 70). Francisco de Garay, who became governor in 1514, enacted an other set of regulations called the Requermiento (The Requirement) (Bennett 70). This system was implemented with the basis that the colonists had to convert the natives to Christianity; Garay was hopeful that in doing so, the natives would “be tractable, properly maintained and live and greatly multiply” (Sherlock 70).
Modernization is defined as the conversion from the former civilizations in society to contemporary society; as it is establish today in the West. It models a perspective of economic, social, and cultural progress that enlightens the global disparity in terms of modifying levels of scientific improvement between societies. By presenting modern approaches in underdeveloped countries, societies will be knowledgeable of solidifications in their economies. This dominant theory refers to a variety of believers of Karl Marx’s perspectives that encourage the explanation of improvement or underdevelopment of countries. Everyone isn’t a fan of Karl Marx’s perspective. The mutual features between Max Weber and Emile Durkheim also interpret the developmental illustration of this theory. Development implies the bridging of these gaps by an imitative process, occurring in stages, such that traditional sectors and/or countries gradually assume the qualities of the 'modern' western. Max Weber observed that with modern civilization the societies would only profit from rationality. The title of Durkheim’s book, Division of Labor in Society, basically summarizes how he views modernization. Durkheim’s believes that with modernization will be the creation of a growing division of labor. He expects the flop of modern social unions in modernization might lead to anomie. Elevation in anomie will eventually cause a growth in crime rates. The theory is in fact a unilinear, ethnocentric theory and it is with all its shortcomings which one can conclude that it provides an unworkable guide to Caribbean development.
The Caribbean countries are not taking this lightly. Fortunately they are bringing together intelligence and police forces as well as customs experts in order to combat the problem. However, the article goes on to mention that these are impoverished countries battling against wealthy crime organizations. Who has more power? Along those same lines, an additional cause for concern is the possibility that these same crime organizations may seek political positions or strong-arm Caribbean country governments so that they can effectively operation without much interference. Many members of these crime organizations have been educated in crime in the north and have been deported back to their homelands. This makes for far more sophisticated criminals than their local counterparts. Jamaican authorities say that a great deal of their criminal activity and high per capita murder rate is solely attributed to the problem of deportees.
Modernization theory is an unworkable guide for facilitating Caribbean growth because of the many weaknesses, which have been highlighted. The modernization theory although is without a doubt one of he most influential theory, is in fact an unworkable guide to Caribbean development as it simply describes the development process without showing how it might be achieved. The theory is in fact a unilinear, ethnocentric theory and it is with all it's shortcomings which one can conclude that it provides an unworkable guide to Caribbean development.