Democratic socialism in Jamaica: the political movement and social transformation in dependent capitalism.

Abstract

Questioning those who assert that progress in Latin America and the Caribbean is impossible without a complete break with the world capitalist system, presents an extensive analysis of Michael Manley's People's National Party Government in Jamaica (1972-80) and its attempt at democratic socialist development. Examines the implications of the Manley experience for similar efforts elsewhere in the region, and argues that some of Manley's reform policies were successful and profoundly affected Jamaican society and the country's external relations, despite conditions unfavourable to democratic socialist change in Jamaica and despite the PNP's decisive election defeat in 1980. Includes a detailed historical account of the Manley years, focusing on shifting relations between contending social forces and on the interaction between economics and politics. -from Publisher