Jamaica Betrayed: Institutional Failure in a Caribbean Setting

The main thesis advanced is quite damning, and many will question its fairness: it is that the almost complete failure of all Jamaican institutions in the 1990s has created a state of social and economic chaos. This institutional failure is traceable to a single source: the political culture and value systems which have evolved over the past sixty years, in particular, the contribution of this political culture to the subverting of democracy, whereby the democratic power of the people is replaced by the oligarchic power of the party. The issues: Why is our country not developing? Why are our children not learning in schools? Why is there so little accountability in the Government? Why does Parliament not seem to represent the people? Why does the Auditor General s report highlight the same issues every year? Why is it that elections do not seem to change anything? Why does the Ministry of Security call for a new war on crime every July? The major theme of the work is the failure and collapse of Jamaican organizations and institutions since the 1960s, which has led to a state of social and economic chaos. The author discusses the inability of many of Jamaica's institutions to function. These include the system of justice and law, the Constitution, and public and private sector organisations. The author traces the source of institutional collapse to the political culture and value system which have evolved in Jamaica over the period since Independence, and which have caused deformities in every single institution in the country.