PS 248 Government and Politics of the Caribbean

The Caribbean provides a unique laboratory to compare political regimes. It includes parliamentary democracies, communist dictatorships, American possessions and French departments. The first half of the class introduces common trends such as colonial experience, slavery, plantation economies, the importance of trade, the reality of harsh meteorological conditions and the policies designed to attracting tourists and their hard currencies, and their consequences. The second half studies the politics of specific countries, i.e., Cuba, Puerto Rico and Haiti. The class includes the communities of Caribbean immigrants in the U.S. and how they impact their home countries as well as the U.S.

3 credit hours