Labor movements and party system development: Why does the Caribbean have stable two-party systems, but the Pacific does not?

Abstract

The authors would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their extremely thorough and detailed feedback on successive iterations of the paper, which assisted in developing the argument and improving it immensely. We would also like to thank the Islands and Small States Institute at the University of Malta who provided Jack and Wouter with the opportunity to discuss the idea for this article and Raimondas Ibenskas and Anika Gauja for suggested readings on party system development. Sections 5.2-5.4 have been adapted with the permission of Oxford University Press from Corbett, J. and Veneendaal, W. (2018) Democracy in Small States: Persisting Against All Odds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. We have also benefitted from funding provided by the Australian Research Council (grant number DP160100897) and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (VENI 451.16.028). Labor Movements and Party System Development:Why does the Caribbean have stable two-party systems, but the Pacific does not? ABSTRACT: Party system development is often said to be essential for democratization. But if this is a necessary precondition, why do two of the most successful developing regions in terms of democratization, the Caribbean and the Pacific, which are composed similarly of small (island) developing states, display such extreme divergence in their experiences with party democracy? The former has the most stable and pure two-party systems in the world, while in the latter political parties are either weakly institutionalized or absent. Since both have attitudinally homogenous societies and similar institutions, conventional explanations that highlight the importance of social cleavages and electoral systems cannot explain this difference. Employing the framework of a most similar systems design incorporating twenty-three countries, we challenge dominant assumptions about the causes of party system development (PSD) and subsequent institutionalization (PSI) by focusing on their distinctive post-colonial political-economic settlements. Specifically, we process trace the role of labor movements and their manifestation as political parties and argue that this provides the strongest explanation for why the Caribbean has stable party systems, but the Pacific does not. By emphasizing the importance of pre-existing social organizations for the development of parties, our analysis foregrounds the otherwise largely neglected literature on early European party organization and the role of political economy in PSD.

Secession, Territorial Integrity and (Non)-Sovereignty: Why do Some Separatist Movements in the Caribbean Succeed and Others Fail?

“…International actors have intervened to quell secessionist movements and guarantee regional stability, albeit this decision ultimately led to the successful secession of Anguilla from St Kitts and Nevis. Moreover, as the liberal international order has continued to fracture in recent years, and may potentially become less permissive towards small states in future, this insight carries important policy implications for would-be secessionists, their national governments, and the donor community alike (see Bishop et al, 2021). Finally, we have demonstrated the importance of studying small states and territories for mainstream political science (cf.…”

“…The Caribbean is no exception to this pattern, although it is distinctive in certain ways. First, because its colonial experience was totalising-almost everywhere, pre-existing civilisation was effectively wiped out and new societies oriented to serve extractive interests were created by the establishment of plantation slavery-this decisively shaped subsequent political regimes (Bishop, 2013;Bishop et al, 2020). Pre-colonial fragments do remain, with small indigenous communities in Dominica, St Vincent, Trinidad and Belize, and most societies are a highly diverse mix of European, African, Asian and, in some cases, East Indian peoples-the latter's ancestors arriving as indentured labourers after slavery-such that, at the microscopic level, they are ethnically complex melting pots practising religions including Obeah, myriad variants of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.…”

Gender and Opposition Leadership in the Pacific Islands

“…Most states operate Westminster systems and many have first-past-the-post electoral systems (Fraenkel, 2016;Larmour, 2005). Yet party systems are often fragmented and weakly institutionalised (see Bishop et al, 2020;Rich et al, 2008). When the opposition is considered, it is usually defined by its absence: in terms of ideological or programmatic debate; party-based campaigning; and key resources and organisational capacity.…”