Massa Day Done or ‘Same Old Khaki Pants?’ Contextualising Caribbean Political Corruption

This chapter provides an overview of the historical, political, cultural and socio-economic factors integral to constructing a Caribbean-centred conceptual framework for decolonising and remodelling Caribbean political corruption studies. It traces the continuities of official corruption from the colonial to the neo-colonial period and authoritarian, patronage governance style by focusing on power and economic asymmetry in terms of Caribbean contributions to European development and industrialisation. Further focus on post-independence imposition of the Westminster model resulting in ‘elected dictatorships’ unchecked by official opposition; the relevance of culturally specific factors and comparison with the American ‘boss politics’ model all contribute to a nuanced understanding of Anglo-Caribbean political systems, necessary for a comprehensive assessment of political corruption.