Elections and Governance - Jamaica on the Global Frontier is presented in two books: The Colonial Years, 1663 to 1962 and The Independence Years, 1962 to 2016. Together, they sketch elections and governance in Jamaica as a colony within the British Empire and as a nation-state from 1962 to 2016. Being on the global frontier locates Jamaica in the practice of elections and governance within the Western world but from the perspective of peoples subordinated in that world yet resolutely defiant of domination because of their firm embrace of freedom.




The Independence Years chronicles how the nation-state has struggled with its colonial history. It highlights the dilemma of winner-take-all governance; the inherent flaws of democracy in its umbilical connection with elections, in that elected representatives can constitutionally and legally appropriate the sovereign power of the people; and outlines Jamaica's unique attempt to resolve the paradox sustained so far by the electorate and elected representatives. The Independence Years identifies limits of elections and the political process in decolonization, subversive effects of some successful forms of resistance of colonialism and slavery to building a viable state, moral society, and authentic democracy, as well as the risk of regression to oligarchy. It challenges the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches, starting with itself, to take the lead in continuing transformation of the Jamaican nation while avoiding nationalistic Christianity.