Department or Program
Politics
Abstract
An era of republicanism arrived in the Commonwealth Caribbean when the island-state of Barbados, in 2022, removed the British monarch as head of state, in favor of a constitutional president. This event sent a wave of constitutional inquiries, referendum hopes, and speculations across the Anglophone Caribbean about the importance of removing the British monarchy and installing new Caribbean republics. Many Caribbean states affirmed commitments to these changes after this event. However, the Caribbean tourism industry stands as a neocolonial force for domination and underdevelopment in the region. Constructed by Global North benefactors (i.e., United Kingdom, United States) and multinational hospitality corporations, the tourism industry in the region has created structures of dependency that dominate economic and social institutions in the area. Furthermore, these neocolonial structures of the tourism economy exist in the ‘skeletal form’ of the former colonial hierarchies and world system that has defined Caribbean politics and society.
Now, republicanism exists in several states in the circum-Caribbean and Anglophone Caribbean. However, I insist that the republican ideals of non-domination and claims on dependency are incompatible with the (neo)colonial circumstances the region has faced. This incompatibility is a significant consequence of the Western, eurocentric focus and thought that has constructed the philosophical core of the republican school of thought. Yet the current calls for republics by the Commonwealth Caribbean neglect this reality, and the states demand the republican option based on their antimonarchical sentiments.
In my thesis, I seek to diagnose and offer a remedy for this problem. By examining the neoclassical republican scholars and (anti/post)colonial theorists, I will define the issues with current republican theory and the methods (anti/post)colonial scholars can offer to both address their flaws and expand the theory to incorporate the Caribbean context of neocolonial domination. This expansion will be done by exploring and creating two philosophical concepts for republican theory: decolonization as a constant practice and creolization as community. The incorporation of these ideals, I argue, will expand republican theory to meet the needs of the Commonwealth Caribbean. The meeting of these needs and the expansion would constitute the creation of a Caribbean republicanism that confronts the issue of neocolonial tourism and produces a compatible republican doctrine for Caribbean republics to come.
Level of Access
Open Access
First Advisor
Gilson, Lisa
Date of Graduation
5-2025
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Recommended Citation
King, Rashad A., "Resorts and Republics: Freedom and Unfreedom in the Commonwealth Caribbean" (2025). Honors Theses. 503.
https://scarab.bates.edu/honorstheses/503
Number of Pages
134
Components of Thesis
1 pdf file
