The Leader Filtration Process and the Low Impact Jamaican Prime Ministers

Abstract

How can the two most recent Prime Ministers who have not rocked the policy boat with transformative public polices be explained? Simpson-Miller and Holness are different in terms of personality, gender, age, level of education and the circumstances that propelled them to office; but they have all been socialized the same way by their political party and the political system. These two Prime Ministers like Jamaican Prime Ministers in general, all came through the party structures and institutions and the wider political system from the bottom up. Holness and Simpson Miller like majority of Prime Ministers were filtered by the elites so they did not deviate from their predecessors, because the system blocks extreme leaders that are likely to be transformative. The JLP and PNP party structures and institutions and the political system filters out doers and keep survivors that it feels can win elections. Doers are extreme leaders that engage in spectacular policy solutions and equally spectacular policy failures. Extreme leaders when they get it right will transform the country unlike the modal (average) leader.