Amanda Sives

Changing Patrons, from Politician to Drug Don Clientelism in Downtown Kingston, Jamaica

Amanda Sives is a member of the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. The issues discussed in this article are covered more fully in her Ph.D. thesis. The fieldwork was undertaken in Kingston, Jamaica, October 1994September 1995 and May 1995-July 1996. The interviews with politicians and community residents cited were completed during these fieldwork visits. The author is grateful to the Cadbury’s Trust through the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, for funding most of the research. She also thanks the reviewers, the editors, and, for her proofreading, Debra Booler. Clientelist relationships in the inner-city communities of downtown Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica, have seen a tendency toward a change in patrons from the politician to the drug don. This situation is interesting for several

Managing the International Recruitment of Health Workers and Teachers: Do the Commonwealth Agreements Provide an Answer?

The international recruitment by countries of the developed world of health workers and teachers from developing countries has become a controversial aspect of the problem of ‘brain drain’. This article, based on research commissioned by the UKs Department for International Development, examines the impact of such international migration, focusing on the recruitment of health workers and teachers within the Commonwealth. It further examines the part played by the Commonwealth as an international organization of sovereign states to manage such recruitment through agreed protocols. It is concluded that the Commonwealth Agreements have made a significant contribution to consensus management of the phenomenon, but that it remains a complex and politically fraught issue. More research is recommended to acquire hard data for the guidance of policy.

The impact of international teacher migration on schooling in developing countries—the case of Southern Africa

Whilst the migration of teachers has been a phenomenon for hundreds of years, the advent of ‘globalisation’ has seen such migration return to prominence. This article focuses on the experiences of two developing countries in Southern Africa which have been on different ends of the process: South Africa as a net sender of teachers and Botswana as a net receiver of teachers. In comparing these two country experiences it is possible to highlight the complexity and impact of teacher mobility in developing countries. The authors argue that, in both cases, there are signs that international teacher mobility may have been a temporary issue as local markets in both countries have adjusted to meet the new demand. A possible conclusion is that the significance of international teacher mobility for developing country education systems lies less in its quantitative effects in terms of numbers of trained teachers and more in its qualitative effects in terms of the kind of teachers that move.

A Review of Commonwealth Election Observation

Ten years after the Harare Declaration, a High Level Review of the Commonwealth is being conducted under the chairmanship of President Mbeki. The priorities of the Commonwealth into the twenty-first century will be discussed and debated. In that context, this article examines one of the key initiatives of the Commonwealth during the 1990s, namely election observation. The article explores the historical development of Commonwealth observation within the framework of its approach to the promotion of democracy and good governance. Despite the commitment to democratic development represented in the Harare Declaration, the article argues that lack of resources (both human and financial) has made Commonwealth election observation increasingly problematic. It calls for a more coherent, proactive approach to the issue of democracy building within the Commonwealth.

Electoral Reform and Good Governance: The Case of Jamaica

Jamaica has enjoyed a relatively stable democratic system since independence in 1962. The two main political parties have alternated in power. Election results have been accepted as reflecting the majority view. Nevertheless, recognised flaws have led to periodic reform efforts, these escalating between 1997 and 2007. This article questions the effectiveness of these reforms. The first section locates the Jamaican experience of electoral reform within the broader concept of good governance. While Jamaica has not been required to implement good governance programmes, it is evident that these discourses have permeated the political and electoral reform agenda. The second section of the article examines the specifics of electoral reform. I argue that while there has been a positive impact in terms of decreasing levels of fraud and impersonation, reform has failed to significantly alter voting cultures in the garrison areas.

Free and fair? Monitoring elections in Jamaica

Amanda Sives explains how election observers have contributed to improvements in Jamaicas electoral process.

Elections in Sri Lanka, October 2000

Introduction On 18 August 2000, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge dissolved Parliament and called elections for 10 October 2000. Her mandate had been renewed in the December 1999 presidential elections when she gained 52.12% of the vote on a 73.31 % turnout. Parliamentary elections were called following the introduction and rejection of a Constitutional Bill which sought, among other things, to devolve power. In calling the election, Kumaratunge hoped to receive a mandate for constitutional change and to boost the position of her coalition, the Peoples Alliance (PA). The main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), led by Ranil Wickremansinghe, hoped to halt its losing streak and unseat the PA coalition. Twenty-nine parties, 99 independent groups and 5,048 candidates contested the election and 225 seats were fought over. The results, which some had predicted would return a hung parliament, led to a slightly reduced PA plurality, from 113 seats won in 1994 to 107 in 2000. The election took place during a state of emergency, imposed since May 2000, as a result of the renewed military conflict between the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan military forces in the Jaffna peninsula. This brief article will introduce the Sri Lankan electoral system, discuss the key issues of the campaign and focus on the role of the domestic and international observer groups.

Mawby, S. (2012). Ordering Independence. The End of Empire in the Anglophone Caribbean, 1947–69

Spanning twenty-two years, exploring the failed attempt to create the West Indies Federation and covering six countries (Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts, Grenada, Guyana, Barbados) Mawby’s book is an ambitious attempt to analyse the process of decolonisation in an entire region of the British Empire. Mawby’s key premise is that previous studies have tended to focus on the failings of Caribbean leadership rather than exploring the ‘deficiencies of British policymaking’. This, he argues, “raises the question of whether, in an odd reversal of the usual historiographical trend in imperial history, British policymakers have been robbed of agency, or more tellingly, responsibility” (p. 21). Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, and most particularly colonial office records, Mawby seeks to redress this balance through a detailed account of the tortuous path of Federal creation and demise as well as a focus on key ‘moments’ in specific countries on their path to independence. The book is organised in a chronological manner and consists of six chapters, including the introduction and conclusion. Structuring a monograph that aims to simultaneously analyse a range of national experiences and a regional process was always going to be challenging and, at times, the book seems a little disjointed. Each of the chapters contains analysis of the federal and national level negotiations and whilst each section is interesting, it can be difficult to follow the coherence of the argument throughout the chapters. It might have been easier if the book had addressed the regional and national levels separately. Chapter one, the introduction, sets out the rationale for the book. Aside from the need to ‘redress the imbalance’ mentioned above, Mawby grounds his analysis in five areas which he argues are “more complicated than has sometimes been acknowledged” (p. 24). The issues he identifies are: regional unity, labour disputes, potential racial conflict, the Cold War and development economics. Whilst there is no doubt these are the central issues affecting the politics of decolonisation, it is also evident that the ‘complications’ arising from them have been acknowledged in previous studies.