Society and Politics in the Caribbean

Decolonization since 1945 in the Caribbean, as in Africa and Asia, has produced new politics in old societies. Caribbean societies are of great social scientific interest because of their origins in forced labour - slavery and indenture, and the close association, historically, between social position, skin colour and culture. Probably uniquely in the Third World, decolonization has been accompanied in most instances by democracy, and even the long-independent Latin American units - Cuba and Haiti excepted - have gravitated towards electoral democracy since the late 1950's. The role of European tutelage, backed up more recently by the imposition of US values in what is seen as the US's "backyard", are clearly important factors in this evolution. This is the first book to make a systematic study of the relationship between society and politics in the major units of the Caribbean - English, French and Spanish speaking. Other titles in this series include "The Great Russian Fair", "Japan and the World", "Gender, Culture and Empire" and "Black Writers from South Africa".