Commonwealth Caribbean Research Articles

The Political Economy of Reparations and the Dialectic of Transnational Capitalism

ABSTRACTThe contemporary global capitalist crisis provides the context for studying reparations, the struggles for which face uphill challenges, foremost because transnational capital will only engage with reparations to serve its own interests. Far from being a panacea for historical wrongs, reparations campaigns are shaped by the historical logics of capitalist accumulation and the liberal racial social contract. The cases of Namibia and the Commonwealth Caribbean (CARICOM) that are examined in this study highlight the contradictions that underpin the demand for reparations arising from genocide in Namibia and capitalist slavery in the CARICOM region. The cases reveal an association of reparations initiatives with buying complicity or capitalist fixes rather than reparative justice for historical grievances, while more autonomous demands for reparations face violent suppression, as in the case of Haiti. Today's reparations struggles are further undermined by revolutionary innovations in digital and robotics technology, confronting exploited racialized populations with a rapidly dwindling supply of jobs. This article locates the contemporary reparations debate within the wider context of global capitalism and its racialized liberal foundations, tracing the links between colonial wrongs, international power relations and ongoing systems of capitalist accumulation which reparations are used to stabilize rather than challenge. It is thus difficult to make a case for the transformational potential of reparations.

Commonwealth Caribbean Cities, Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience: Empowering Local Government

Commonwealth Caribbean Cities, Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience: Empowering Local Government

Foreign allegiance and constitutional citizenship: postcolonial (dis)continuities in the Commonwealth Caribbean

Foreign allegiance and constitutional citizenship: postcolonial (dis)continuities in the Commonwealth Caribbean

Gender and Democratization of Caribbean Education

In the Commonwealth Caribbean, on average, girls start schooling earlier, attend school more regularly, repeat fewer grades, are less and achieve higher likely to drop out and therefore stay in school longer, standards of educational performance than boys. In the adult population more women are literate than men. Girls are more highly represented in those sections of the secondary and tertiary levels of the education system which enhance the prospects of upward social mobility. In a real sense girls and women constitute the first sex in Caribbean education. The Caribbean is one of the few areas of the world where this is the case. The data to support these assertions are not in question. They are routinely reported and confirmed by the annual education statistical reports of all the countries in the subregion. The issue at hand is their explanation.

The Lecturer as a Researcher in a Tertiary Level Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institution

This article explores the issue of the lecturer as a researcher in the context of a tertiary level technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institution in Jamaica. Much of what is said, however, will find easy application to TVET institutions in small developing countries in the Commonwealth Caribbean and elsewhere. The article first explores, broadly, the concept of research in education and its general application to the field of TVET. It then addresses a number of issues more specifically related to the lecturer as a researcher in a TVET institution.

Plantocratic patriarchal culture, violence against women and girls and the failures of the global health system: an interview with Marsha Hinds Myrie and Anya A. A. Lorde

ABSTRACT Like other parts of the world, women and girls in the Commonwealth Caribbean (CC) experience high and escalating rates of physical and sexual violence. The interview presented outlines some factors that underscore the gendered disparities of violence against women in the Caribbean as well as how healthcare responses are not developed for marginalised women and girls. The interview explores the invisibility of women and girls within healthcare and broader national healthcare structures responses through case details analysis of a Barbadian strategic litigation case. The interview calls for transdisciplinary approaches to analysing the effectiveness of the global health system that make space for not just traditional research approaches but also lived experiences ‘from below’ and input of advocates and activists. Despite Barbados being a signatory to a range of global health initiatives to improve healthcare responses to gender-based violence, the country does not have a formalised, comprehensive national plan to inform prevention and intervention measures. The interview shows the connections between plantocratic patriarchal culture (PPC) and the existing gaps that cause harm to women and girls who experience various types of gendered violence.

Prorogation in Commonwealth Caribbean countries: an analysis of the relevance of the Miller decision

ABSTRACT The judgment in the Miller case in the UK in September 2019 which overturned the decision of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to advise the Queen to prorogue Parliament is not applicable in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The view of Derek O’Brien in the Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics in January 2022, which suggests otherwise, is challenged. The article addresses the use of the prorogation of Parliament as a means of avoiding adverse political circumstances in the Commonwealth Caribbean by Prime Ministers and Presidents to ensure political survival in the following cases: 1989 – Prime Minister Herbert Blaize in Grenada. 2002 – Prime Minister Patrick Manning in Trinidad and Tobago. 2012 – Prime Minister Tillman Thomas in Grenada. 2014 – President Donald Ramotar in Guyana. In the Commonwealth Caribbean, all of the constitutions are written, unlike the United Kingdom. The constitutional dissimilarities on prorogation between the Westminster-Whitehall model in the Commonwealth Caribbean and the Westminster model in the UK will confirm the inapplicability of the Miller case to the Commonwealth Caribbean.

The Lack of Amenability of Sporting Organisations in the Commonwealth Caribbean to Judicial Review: Prioritising Autonomy as Opposed to Accountability

The Lack of Amenability of Sporting Organisations in the Commonwealth Caribbean to Judicial Review: Prioritising Autonomy as Opposed to Accountability

Meditations on Migrations of Gender, Mobility, and Movement from the Commonwealth Caribbean

Meditations on Migrations of Gender, Mobility, and Movement from the Commonwealth Caribbean

On the meaning of bankruptcy: ‘Old–new’ lexicon in corporate insolvency law in the Commonwealth Caribbean

Several jurisdictions in the Commonwealth Caribbean have undertaken reform and modernisation of their insolvency legislation. The dominant model for the new enactments has been Canada's federal statute, the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, RSC 1985, which has already been transplanted into six jurisdictions of the region. The transplantation has introduced lexicon which, while part of the vocabulary of the old statutes for personal insolvency, has, traditionally, been unfamiliar to the region's corporate insolvency law, hence the phrase, ‘“old–new” lexicon’, in the title. This article examines the meanings of some of this lexicon, particularly ‘bankruptcy’ and cognate terms, including ‘acts of bankruptcy’. The examination extends to the term ‘receiving order’, operationally related to bankruptcy. Legal interpretation of the terms is enriched in the discussion by insights from linguistics. While showing that the importation of these terms into the region's corporate insolvency law is semantically problematic, the article elucidates the signification of the terms. It points out that some of the ‘old–new’ terms may tend to reduce the efficacy in the contemplated lay administration of the statutes. It also warns that the ‘old–new’ lexicon threatens to undermine key goals of the reform exercise, suggesting a need for deeper scrutiny in the transplantation process.

Distorted Directions in Cannabis in the Commonwealth Caribbean Did We Exhale?

Distorted Directions in Cannabis in the Commonwealth Caribbean Did We Exhale?

Rethinking Directors’ Statutory Fiduciary Duties in the Commonwealth Caribbean: Should Sequana be Followed?

The scope and nature of directors’ duties has been the subject of much judicial and academic debate. In the recent BTI 2014 LLC v. Sequana SA decision, the UK Supreme Court firmly established the creditor duty in English company law. This paper proposes to examine the basis and nature of the duty including its Commonwealth origin. The focal point of this paper is to determine the question of whether such a creditor duty would be accepted as existing by courts in the Commonwealth Caribbean. In providing the answer to that question, this article makes reference to numerous Canadian cases in which the question was answered and many scholarly works which advocate against the creditor duty. Commonwealth, Commonwealth Caribbean, Directors’ Fiduciary Duty, Creditor Duty, BTI 2014 LLC v. Sequana, Companies Act

Enterprise and entrepreneurship in peripheral contexts: experiences and prospects from the caribbean small island developing states

The transformative effect of entrepreneurship has been well-documented. Indeed, entrepreneurship has been linked to the growth and prosperity of nations, contributing to the sustainable development of various sectors. Developments globally have seen growing attention to the transformational effect of entrepreneurship and its potential in developing and emerging contexts. However, while many experiences have been covered, those of some developing and emerging contexts have received far less attention. Among these under-covered contexts is that of Caribbean Small Island Developing states (SIDS). It is important to note that the development of entrepreneurship as a field can benefit from a broader understanding of more contexts. This special issue is an opportunity to advance understanding of and the dimensions of entrepreneurship in a largely grey area in the literature, the Caribbean Region. This maiden paper plays a strategic role in situating the papers which follow in a larger body of research and practice relating to entrepreneurship with a focus on the Commonwealth Caribbean SIDS. Perhaps more importantly, the approach is not simply to introduce the papers but more strategically to provide rich contextual material on the quality of entrepreneurship in the region, which then forms the backdrop for the remaining papers. A comprehensive over-view of entrepreneurship is offered, alongside a discussion of some of the historical and contemporary developments, while highlighting the specific character of entrepreneurship in a region that is largely shaped by forces which have in many ways rendered it peripheral to development. Even so, the approach is not pessimistic. As such the paper ends with a demonstration of how an understanding of entrepreneurship in the Caribbean can contribute to and inform the development of practice and theorising, more generally, including advancing an understanding of developments not just in entrepreneurship but in the broader field of International Business. Indeed, the experiences of under[1]covered regions such as these are useful in that they offer novel testing ground for emerging theories and assumptions and can make relevant contributions to the development of entrepreneurship as a still emerging field of research.

Mandatory constitutional referendums in Commonwealth Caribbean constitutions: placing ‘people’ at the centre of the constitution?

Mandatory constitutional referendums in Commonwealth Caribbean constitutions: placing ‘people’ at the centre of the constitution?

Students' Perceptions of Quality Education in Secondary Schools in the Commonwealth Caribbean: Country, School Type and Gender Differences

There is a lack of clarity on what quality education means and how it could be achieved. This study examines this question from the perspective of secondary school students in Jamaica and Trinidad. The study also sought to ascertain whether there were significant country, school type and gender differences in the students’ perceptions .A convergent mixed methods design was used for the research. The findings revealed that students perceive the context in which teaching and learning take place, the inputs available, teaching-learning processes and educational outputs as being critical to the achievement of quality education.

The ‘contract’ and its discontents: Can it address protection gaps for migrant agricultural workers in Canada?

AbstractCanada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program has often been portrayed as a model for temporary migration programmes. It is largely governed by the Contracts negotiated between Canada and Mexico and Commonwealth Caribbean countries respectively. This article provides a critical analysis of the Contract by examining its structural context and considers the possibilities and limitations for ameliorating it. It outlines formal recommendations that the article co‐authors presented during the annual Contract negotiations between Canada and sending states in 2020. The article then explains why these recommendations were not accepted, situating the negotiation process within the structural context that produces migrant workers' vulnerability, on the one hand, and limits the capacity of representatives of sending and receiving states to expand rights and offer stronger protections to migrant farmworkers, on the other hand. We argue that fundamental changes are required to address the vulnerability of migrant agricultural workers. In the absence of structural changes, it is nevertheless important to seek improvements in the regulation of the programme through any means possible, including strengthening the Contract.

The Commonwealth Caribbean Women’s Movement in a Post-Colonial Mould: A Route Back to Conscience

Women in Barbados and the Commonwealth Caribbean have always organised to oppose and change their circumstances. Given the prevalence of misogyny and patriarchy in colonial and postcolonial societies, this resistance is especially important. Women’s activism has primarily been labelled as “feminism,” but this paper contends that this is not historically accurate. While feminism provided a language and an international platform for Caribbean women’s work, it was ineffective in providing a framework for addressing community-based organising. The paper employs Eusi Kwayana’s concept of “conscience” as a more appropriate philosophical anchor for Caribbean activism. Conscience is a philosophical marker that connects Andaiye’s work to a broader Afro-Caribbean approach to navigating life in postcolonial societies affected by the relics of slave plantation economy and social structures. This orientation runs counter to the Western definition of feminism, and Caribbean women should be wary of the ways such concepts impede their ability to organise themselves meaningfully.

Impact of External Risks on International Construction Projects Success: Evidence from Commonwealth Caribbean Islands

Since risks on international construction show region to region variation, the present study investigates the impact of external risks on international construction project (ICP) success and the relationships between them, from the perspective of construction professionals working in the Commonwealth Caribbean Islands (CCI) states. After a literature review, a survey questionnaire was designed with the input of a small group of experts. An instrument was tested and then sent to the construction professionals working in the CCI. Seventy valid surveys collected were processed using the structural equation model (SEM). The results suggest that the reason why CCI is an attractive region for construction enterprises looking into developing countries is because they do not support a direct impact of external risks on the project success, contrary to the findings in other studies on developing regions. The SEM confirmed that global risks influence economic risks, while economic risks influence legal risks and, in this region, influence the social risks. Results obtained help to address the knowledge gap for the ICP risks for the Caribbean region. The study will help the firms and the professionals looking to venture into the CCI or other regions with similar characteristics to create their risk management plan.

Woe is the dark Web: the main challenges that governments of the Commonwealth Caribbean will face in combating dark Web-facilitated criminal activities

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the potential challenges that governments in the Commonwealth Caribbean are likely to face combating crimes facilitated by the dark Web.Design/methodology/approachThe “lived experience” methodology guided by a contextual systematic literature review was used to ground the investigation of the research phenomena in the researchers’ collective experiences working in, living in and engaging in research with governments in the Commonwealth Caribbean.FindingsThe two major findings emerging from the analysis are that jurisdictional and technical challenges are producing major hindrances to the creation of an efficient and authoritative legislative framework and the building of the capacity of governments in the Commonwealth Caribbean to confront the technicalities that affect systematic efforts to manage problems created by the dark Web.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate the urgency that authorities in the Caribbean region must place on reevaluating their administrative, legislative and investment priorities to emphasize cyber-risk management strategies that will enable their seamless and wholesome integration into this digital world.Originality/valueThe research aids in developing and extending theory and praxis related to the problematization of the dark Web for governments by situating the experiences of Small Island Developing States into the ongoing discourse.

The Contribution of Thornton’s Five Stages of the Drafting Process to the Rule of Law in the Commonwealth Caribbean

The Contribution of Thornton’s Five Stages of the Drafting Process to the Rule of Law in the Commonwealth Caribbean