Book Review…Former minister urges political reform

Feb 14, 2016 Book Review…, Features / Columnists

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Book: Crisis and Promise in the Caribbean, Politics and Convergence
Author: Winston Dookeran
Reviewer: Dr Glenville Ashby

A global revolution is sweeping our planet and the process is creating a new frontier world in which a new social, economic, and political order is emerging. (p. 10)
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Winston Dookeran’s ‘Crisis and Promise’ is insightful and revolutionary in depth and scope.

Never short on academic rigour, it traces the endemic problems of the region to an anachronistic political model.
The Westminster system may have served the British people just fine, according to Dookeran, but it has destabilized and fractured Caribbean societies already threatened by ethnic and racial fault lines. He inveighs against the two-party system that has dominated the political culture of former British colonies; a system that has created blind tribalism, stymied economic growth, fomented corruption, and violated the principles of good governance. He relentlessly advocates for transparency and accountability of institutional bodies and the impartial dissemination of information by the media.
Dookeran’s thesis is a product of a new global dynamic that is redefining nationhood and threatening the old order. Information technology, he argues, has created shifts in the social and political landscape of nations. This paradigm is clothed with a new set of values and expectations.The political rules are changing, and nations unable to adapt to this new reality risk political and economic irrelevance.
His utilitarian doctrine calls for a new breed of political leaders unafraid to combat the spectre of corruption and the enduring blight of nepotism. Impartiality and meritocracy are the building blocks of success, he contends, and the viability of institutions must trump all else.
The “haphazard filling of critical executive positions” Dookeran pens, has led to wastage and low productivity. At a cabinet level, he calls for the establishment of a performance management and delivery unit (PMDU), tasked with optimizing the efficient and effective implementation of governmental initiatives.
Genuine democracy, he reasons, will limit the overarching and uneven distribution of political power. Although he is particularly attentive to the political challenges facing Trinidad and Tobago, his undertaking covers far greater geographic ground.  He calls for a broad constitutional reform that guarantees the economic and political rights of a people still hamstrung by the residua of colonial rule.
He appeals for checks and balances, a free press, and the right to recall non-performing parliamentary representatives. He later addresses the electoral process, convinced that “instituting a fixed election date with opportunities for a referendum process, and limiting the executive to two successive terms as head of government,” will create a more dynamic and competitive polity.
In Dookeran’s revolution, political and economic reform march in lock step. ýHe credits his tenure as foreign affairs minister in the People’s Partnership administration (2010-2015), in attaining observer status for Trinidad and Tobago in the Pacific Alliance that comprises Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Colombia.
His “inclusion” vision far exceeds that of CARICOM. He writes: “CARICOM with a market size of less than 6 million persons or even the Central American common market (with 28 million) is relatively small in trading terms. A Caribbean Basin Free Trade Area that covers CARICOM, Central America, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba will comprise 60 million people and constitute a significant trading bloc.”
However, he adds that internal mechanisms must be in place to benefit from trade agreements regionally and globally. ”Production systems,” he notes, can only be fully realized by “a firm consolidation of economic partnerships, a creative funding plan and a comprehensive economic reform programme.”
For this former minister, the region’s Pollyannaish culture has its place, but not in this new political and economic reality.
He confronts a moribund body politic bound by tradition and inertia. Progressive, even a maverick, of sorts, he injects mass doses of ethics in his political vision. His work effortlessly bridges continents. He explores institutions that have responded to new global challenges, such as Makerere University in Uganda, and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), with the hope that the Caribbean can learn from their adaptability and proactive policies.
Dookeran’s democracy takes on new meaning. Institutions do not jockey for preeminence. Every structure – political, social and economic – is essential and driven by the same bioethical principles of truth, justice, and freedom. It is a mantra that upholds officials to the highest standards.
Undoubtedly, this is a sweeping revolution. He maintains that economic and political reforms are inconsequential without fundamental changes in the education sector. “Liberation through education,” he writes, “is the best platform to challenge the workings of a failed political system.” He later offers, “Recognising the theory of multiple intelligences, it is evident that children deserve an education based on their unique abilities,” and “that it is the responsibility of the state to take steps towards revamping the education system so that it is more relevant to the needs of a society.”
He also beckons the region’s clerics to assume a greater leadership role. They must serve as the moral compass and spiritual bulwark of the region. Faith-based institutions must assist in molding societies. He is passionate, unambiguous on this matter. “Interventions of faith-based and other non-governmental organisations are welcome to address pressing social issues,” he asserts, confident that religious groups, in fostering unity and tolerance, can promote “the proper environment for growth and sustainable development of a country and the world.”
In Dookeran’s post-modern Theory of Convergence, the people wield power by virtue of their ready access to information. Boundaries that once divided the region along political, ethnic, racial, and linguistic lines must be dismantled, paving the way for “integration without borders,” the strengthening of individual economies and the holistic development of nations.

Feedback: [email protected] or follow him on Twitter@glenvilleashby
Crisis and Promise in the Caribbean, Politics and Convergence by Winston Dookeran © 2015
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., England
Available: Amazon
ISBN: 9781472440426
Ratings: Highly recommended

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