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ANTIGUA VISION
Caribbean Reality
Perspectives of Prime Minister Lester Bryant Bird
Introduced and Edited by
Sir Ronald Sanders
price:
UK pounds £14.99
Hardback
1 870518 59 4
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Antigua Vision: Caribbean Reality reflects the perspectives of a Caribbean Prime Minister on major issues that confronted the region over the twenty-five years from 1976 to 2001.
Lester Bryant Bird is the only Caribbean leader who held office consistently over a quarter of a century. Consequently, he has been in the forefront of decision-making in the region as an entire generation of West Indians grew to maturity.
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The statements included in this volume cover a range of topics, each of them crucial to the Caribbean's economic, social and political development. They range from the region's continuing quest to build a single Caribbean nation, its cautious relationship with the United States, the right of intervention in the affairs of Caribbean States, the increasing struggle to maintain a place in international politics, and the importance of cricket to the West Indian psyche.
Importantly, a chapter of the book is dedicated to the issue of governance in the Caribbean. Lester asserts that Caribbean political parties have pushed adversarial aspects of the two-party system much farther than it existed in Britain. There is, he says, "a winner take all" mentality that attends general elections in the Caribbean and, as a consequence, undermines the creation of true nationhood. Most Caribbean countries are nominally one nation, but two distinct societies based on political division.
Most of the statements are reproduced in full and each is given a brief introduction setting its context.
Few public statements by Prime Ministers have been made with the frankness that has always been the hallmark of Lester Bird's presentations. In this connection, Antigua Vision: Caribbean Reality will be a unique source of reference for scholars, researchers and those interested in Caribbean affairs
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NOTES
Lester Bryant Bird holds a B.A. degree from the University of Michigan, USA and is a Barrister-at-Law from Gray's Inn, London. He was first elected to office in 1976 when he became Deputy Premier of Antigua, a State in Association with the United Kingdom. Since then he has contested five more general elections winning his seat with increased majorities every time. In 1993, he was elected Leader of the Antigua Labour Party and led it to two successive general election victories in 1994 and 1999.
He has been in the forefront of Caribbean decision-making having attended almost all of the Conferences of Caribbean Heads of Government between 1976 and 2001. He has also been a spokesman for the Caribbean at Commonwealth and international conferences on matters crucial to the region's well being.
During the period of his service in government, Antigua and Barbuda was transformed from a British colonial outpost with high unemployment and poor social services to a vibrant, independent State ranked among the top 40 of 176 nations in the United Nations Human Development Index.
Sir Ronald Michael Sanders has edited and authored several publications on the Caribbean. He has worked as a broadcaster with the BBC and is a former member of the Executive Board of UNESCO and Visiting Fellow at Oxford University. He has also served on two advisory boards of international organisations on the problems of Small States, and is a seasoned representative of the Caribbean in international affairs.
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