UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES
DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT
GT22D-Politics in the Caribbean
Tutorial and Essay Topics.
Semester II - 1999/2000
1. How have Caribbean political parties, party systems and party competition changed over the years. How do these changes account for the current state of democracy?
2. Are Caribbean elections free and fair. What socio-political and other realities undermine the region=s elections?
3. What factors orient Caribbean voters toward or away from political parties and elections and how do these explain the passions of voters.
4. Ideally, democracies should provide high levels of human rights and human development, but this is not often the case in the Caribbean. What difficulties prevent finding the right balance and the right levels of the development of both.
5. What does the concept "good governance" mean. In what ways is its application expected to reform the post-colonial state and produce systems of good government?
6. What arguments are put forward for the kinds of constitutional reform models that have been proposed in the Caribbean and how realistic are these arguments?
7. How do the different economic models being pursued in the Caribbean indicate the new roles for states and markets.
8. What seem to be the different ways of conceptualizing globalization and how do these suggest what the appropriate Caribbean response should be?
Robert Buddan.
January 2000.