Suchergebnisse

The question of how one accommodates and manages diversity within the context of the nation state is by no means a new one. It is an age old issue that gave rise to centuries of warfare in Europe. The issue was supposed to have been resolved in 1648 by the famous doctrine -cuius regio eius religo (the king's faith is the religion of the kingdom) which was enunciated in the Peace Treaty of Westphalia. Despite the Pax Westphalia, there continued to be considerable controversy as to what should be the role of the state and the relationship which those who live within its borders should have with it. Political philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes were of the view that having regard to the conditions of the time in which they lived and the social characteristics of man as they understood them, the monarch should be all powerful and that corporations and social groups should surrender their rights to the Leviathan or "mortal god" as Hobbes termed him, in the interest of peace, order, prosperity and good government.

Explains how the Co-operative Bank (CB), also known as the "Penny Bank" began and how this bank, the Workers Bank and the National Commercial Bank (NCB) found themselves in a state of near collapse during the economic crisis that befell the Trinidad and Tobago in 1986-1992.The collective weaknesses of these indigenous banks and the fear that there might be a run on NCB which would contaminate the entire industry, led the managements of CB, NCB, the Workers Bank and the Central Bank to propose that the three banks should merge their operations. The Government agreed with their recommendation.The merged Bank, the First Citizens Bank (FCB), not only survived, but went o to become the best performing financial group in Trinidad and indeed in the wider Caribbean.

Like most commentators about the constitutional impass that developed in Trinidad and Tobago following President Robinson's refusal to accept the Prime Minister Panday's advice to appoint seven United National Congress (UNC) candidates who were defeated in the December 11th elections to Senate and as junior ministers, the author is of the firm view that President Robinson did not have the constitutional authority to refuse Prime Minister Panday's advice. Unlike some who concentrate solely on what the Constitution prescribes, his concern was with the President's dilemma which he believed to be a genuine one. In The President's letter to Mr. Panday, he declared, that he found "it impossible to accept the principle, not expressed or denied in the Constitution, that persons who have been rejected by the electorate can constitute a substantial part of the Cabinet, even the majority, and consequently the effective Executive in our democratic state."

States good governance is not a magic bullet that will solve the problems of the world uniformly because what is of benefit to some, causes ungovernabiity, poverty, and powerlessness in many areas of the world. We thus have to reinvent government and reinsert it into the policy-making matrix.

This study looks at contemporary politics in Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago as it relates to the issue of ethnic identity and the demands being made for power sharing by the various ethnic collectivities as a mechanism for addressing the material and symbolic insecurities which they claim to experience.

Over the past few decades, there were many who believed that Guyana was ruled by a "dictatorship" established by Forbes Burnham and maintained by Desmond Hoyte. During the seventies, eighties, and early nineties, there was a sustained struggle on the part of many, both inside and outside Guyana, to "restore democracy." The PPP's proud boast is that in 1992, when it regained power, it had succeeded in doing so.

The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) was established in 1950 on the Mona Campus of The University of the West Indies. A branch was set up on the Cave Hill Campus in 1962, while the St. Augustine branch came into being in 1970. As the "research arm" of the Faculty of the Social Sciences, ISER's mission was to conduct research on the social, political and economic systems of the Caribbean region which would feed into the teaching programmes of the Faculty of the Social Sciences, as well as into the policy formulation and decision-making processes in the countries of the region. Since its inception, the Institute has fulfilled its task with distinction. It has endeavoured to fulfill its mandate by responding to the shifting needs and challenges in the region. It has provided basic and critical data on the social, political, economic, and demographic characteristics of the countries. It also focused particular attention on the development of appropriate theoretical paradigms and models for the region, and more recently took a critical in-depth look at specific sectors and issues such as technology and technology policy, the state, public enterprises, the nationalization of industrial and financial sectors, regional integration and tourism. In addition to these more general areas of work, the Institute has also done specific studies on topics such as Caribbean family systems, small states in the international system, the nature and functioning of mass political parties, trade unionism, entrepreneurship, race, gender and class in the region and the small farm economy and society. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it does provide an indication of the scope and variety of research activities in which ISER has been involved. Reports, books, monographs, papers, seminars and conferences have been generated by these activities, all of which have profoundly affected the public policy debate and policy-making in the region, as well as the teaching curriculum at the university level. During the last decade, there have been new developments and challenges in the region, and there have been increasing as well as more diversified demands on the research capabilities of the Institute. It therefore became necessary to look again at how best the Institute could seek to relate to, and address the needs of its "client groups" within, as well as outside the univerSity. To this end, ISER, with the aid of the Ford Foundation, undertook a ''Self Study" in 1993 as part of its continuing attempt to examine its role and function in a changing and dynamic social and economic environment. The need for this study was aiso stimulated by the perception that while ISER has produced a great deal of research relevant for the formulation of public policy, it was now necessary that this research be more explicitly policy-oriented, and that there be greater emphasis on the identification of innovative but viable policy options for the region. The growing demand for this can be seen in the increasing tendency for both govemmental and non-govemrnental agendes to enter into contractual relationships with agencies external to the region for the purposes of obtaining these kinds of analyses and information. However, it is clear that the depth and sensitivity of analysis required necessitates much greater involvement of regionally-based research institutions such as ISER.

Calypsonians had traditionally locked horns with political and social elites. In the past, "calypso wars" were waged with the colonial authorities and their social allies. In the period following independence, which was achieved in 1956, the "battles" were waged with the People's National Movement in general and its leader, Dr. Eric williams in particular. Between 1986 and 1991, the guns of the calypsonians were trained on the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) and its leader, ANR Robinson. In November 1995, the United National Congress (UNC) came to power. It was the first time that Trinidad and Tobago had to deal with a government that was dominated by Indo-Trinidadians. The calypsonians, most of whom were Afro-Trinidadians, were now faced with the task of plying their craft without appearing to be racist in what they did. Looks at the debate that took place between the political calypsonians and their critics, both Indo-Trinidadian and Afro-Truinidadian, during the period 1996-1998 in an attempt to determine the extent to whidh they succeeded in this task.

When if ever, is political riot and rebellion legitimate? Is there such a thing as a "good riot"? Did the street demonstrations which took place in Guyana in 1997 and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in April 2000, and which precipitated the intervention of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) create bad precedents for governance it the region? These are some of the questions to which we will try to offer answers in this paper.

There are elements in the Caribbean who hold the view that the independence project could not be deemed complete until the Privy Council was replaced as the final court of appeal for the Caribbean by an indigenous body. The arguments advanced for abolition of the former imperial court are varied. The most important is that one cannot be half-independent; one was either independent and sovereign or not. One could not demand one's political and economic independence and remain subject to a foreign colonial court. Legal independence was the logical capstone of political independence. As Jamaica's Prime Minister P.J. Patterson expressed it, "if we are fit to enact our own laws, we should be fit to interpret them ourselves" (cited in Vasciannie 1996:2). Patterson was even more explicit in an address given February 2000, when he asked:Can our sovereignty be completewhen the final word on the law asan essential ingredient in thefunctioning of our state is still thesubject of external decision-makingand interpretation by a . court thatis not indigenous? (cited inVasciannie 1998:47)This view had been endorsed by the Organisation of Commonwealth Bar Associations at its Sixth Biennial Meeting in Jamaica in 1970. One notes that several former colonial states have abolished appeals to the Privy Council. Among them are Grenada, Guyana, Australia, India, Canada, Cyprus, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Malaysia, Kenya and Zanzibar. It is however worth noting that being sovereign also means that a state can share responsibilities with another state or with some other regional or international body. It could also contract out functions to some extra-territorial agency, including bodies like the Caribbean Court of Justice or the Privy Council. Sovereignty could thus be devolved and reclaimed (Vasciannie 1998: 45-51).

Perceptions about performance are influenced to a great extent by the basic attitude one has to the subject being evaluated, and the feelings one has about those whose performances are being evaluated. If one is well disposed to the latter, and one regards them as legitimate and worthy of trust, one's evaluation of their performance is likely to be more positive than if the reverse were the case. How much trust did the Guyanese people have in the PPP/Civic Government? Seventeen per cent said they had a "great deal of trust" in the Government, while 34 per cent said they had "some degree of trust" in it. The aggregated figure for those trusting was 51 per cent.

Should Guyana be governed by one party, a coalition of all parties, or a coalition of opposition parties? Should the country be annexed by the United States which many refer to as Region II? A small plurality, 24 per cent, believed that a PPP/Civic government is the best way for Guyana to be governed at the present time. Seventeen per cent felt that a PNC/Reform government was the best option for Guyana. Only ten per cent would welcome a coalition between the PPP and the PNC, with another 12 per cent preferring a coalition of all existing parties or a "National Front" Government as suggested by ROAR. Another coalitional option, "a coalition of all opposition parties," excluding the PPP/Civic was endorsed by 4 per cent of the sample. Four per cent felt Guyana should be annexed, while another 6 per cent favoured a "non-party" government. Fourteen per cent could not say what was best for Guyana, while 6 per cent refused to offer an opinion.