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A new political paradigm
Henley Morgan
Thursday, May 24, 2007
We have entered the political "silly season" when it is unlikely that party aficionados on the hunt for votes will allow reason to get in the way of success. Though it may fall on deaf ears, I will persist in the call coming from saner quarters of the society for a new political paradigm to prevail in Jamaica.
Party politics in Jamaica has not advanced much beyond primeval 19th century practices in Europe that gave rise to the concept of the political machinery (or party). Adopted as a preferred method to revolution for changing governments, party politics exhibits debilitating, and some would argue inherent weaknesses. For reasons of history, culture and tradition, the weaknesses get magnified here in Jamaica.
Unfettered by constitutional provisions, the primary motive of political parties in our dispensation is to attain and hold on to power rather than to provide good governance. The political machine is headed by a single boss of unbridled power who surrounds himself (herself) with people of his (her) choosing. The first commitment of people so chosen is to the leader to whom loyalty of occultist proportion is paid; not to the party and certainly not to the people they seek to represent through the electoral process.
Organisers who finance the machine and garner the votes are rewarded with patronage jobs for which they are often not qualified. The political machine may accept donations or kickbacks from businesses in return for favours such as the award of lucrative public works contracts. In some jurisdictions (there is no evidence that we have sunk to this low in Jamaica), the dealings of the political machine have included accepting money from organised crime figures in exchange for protection from prosecution.
The political machinery has a hierarchical structure reaching down to party workers at the community level. It is almost endemic to the political process for jobs and services to be awarded discriminatingly to voters in exchange for loyalty at the polls. In its rawest form, party politics inevitably leads to corruption and abuse of power; raises questions about whether politicians truly represent their constituents; spawns bureaucracy, inefficiency and waste, and ultimately creates the basis for underdevelopment.
New rules of political conduct for the global condition are beginning to emerge. Persecutions, victimisation, bribery and scandals are hardly unique to these times. The difference is that today, when standards of ethics and decency are compromised anywhere, we learn about it everywhere.
Increasingly, individuals and organisations are voicing concern for and taking action against behaviour that violates the integrity and rights of our fellow global citizens. This evolving code of conduct is also being embraced by politicians as global politics becomes increasingly driven by global economics and less by insular sovereignty. Politicians and political activity around the world are being scrutinised like they never were before. The message is clear.
Democracy and austerity are regrettable but acceptable. Democracy and corrupt abuse of power are not acceptable.
Voters everywhere, Jamaica being no exception, are making it clear that they are fed up with the over-familiar faces and with politics as usual (note the almost 30 per cent here who say they will not vote). As citizens of a global community, politicians have to adapt their behaviour to the new standards despite local conditions and norms. To local politicians I say, you may have got away in the past with abuses such as those that led to the establishment of garrison constituencies. Try that today and there is the distinct possibility you will be tried in the international court of CNN live.
There is one more thing for politicians and the rest of us to consider. Changes of government through revolution, which the party machinery was designed to render obsolete, are infinitely more likely today than they were in the 19th century. With global communications, an unknown figure today can have a world-wide audience tomorrow; can emerge from obscurity to occupy the seat of power in the twinkling of an eye. The no-vote campaign launched by Betty Ann Blaine may not be the match to ignite the spontaneous combustion that becomes a raging inferno.
But if I were a politician I would be treating it as if it were. It's essential that governments wishing progress for their countries worry about their image and what the disaffected majority are saying. The choice of a response is no longer in the hands of politicians. The new paradigm of globalisation has handed power back to the people.
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
Henley Morgan
Thursday, May 24, 2007
We have entered the political "silly season" when it is unlikely that party aficionados on the hunt for votes will allow reason to get in the way of success. Though it may fall on deaf ears, I will persist in the call coming from saner quarters of the society for a new political paradigm to prevail in Jamaica.
Party politics in Jamaica has not advanced much beyond primeval 19th century practices in Europe that gave rise to the concept of the political machinery (or party). Adopted as a preferred method to revolution for changing governments, party politics exhibits debilitating, and some would argue inherent weaknesses. For reasons of history, culture and tradition, the weaknesses get magnified here in Jamaica.
Unfettered by constitutional provisions, the primary motive of political parties in our dispensation is to attain and hold on to power rather than to provide good governance. The political machine is headed by a single boss of unbridled power who surrounds himself (herself) with people of his (her) choosing. The first commitment of people so chosen is to the leader to whom loyalty of occultist proportion is paid; not to the party and certainly not to the people they seek to represent through the electoral process.
Organisers who finance the machine and garner the votes are rewarded with patronage jobs for which they are often not qualified. The political machine may accept donations or kickbacks from businesses in return for favours such as the award of lucrative public works contracts. In some jurisdictions (there is no evidence that we have sunk to this low in Jamaica), the dealings of the political machine have included accepting money from organised crime figures in exchange for protection from prosecution.
The political machinery has a hierarchical structure reaching down to party workers at the community level. It is almost endemic to the political process for jobs and services to be awarded discriminatingly to voters in exchange for loyalty at the polls. In its rawest form, party politics inevitably leads to corruption and abuse of power; raises questions about whether politicians truly represent their constituents; spawns bureaucracy, inefficiency and waste, and ultimately creates the basis for underdevelopment.
New rules of political conduct for the global condition are beginning to emerge. Persecutions, victimisation, bribery and scandals are hardly unique to these times. The difference is that today, when standards of ethics and decency are compromised anywhere, we learn about it everywhere.
Increasingly, individuals and organisations are voicing concern for and taking action against behaviour that violates the integrity and rights of our fellow global citizens. This evolving code of conduct is also being embraced by politicians as global politics becomes increasingly driven by global economics and less by insular sovereignty. Politicians and political activity around the world are being scrutinised like they never were before. The message is clear.
Democracy and austerity are regrettable but acceptable. Democracy and corrupt abuse of power are not acceptable.
Voters everywhere, Jamaica being no exception, are making it clear that they are fed up with the over-familiar faces and with politics as usual (note the almost 30 per cent here who say they will not vote). As citizens of a global community, politicians have to adapt their behaviour to the new standards despite local conditions and norms. To local politicians I say, you may have got away in the past with abuses such as those that led to the establishment of garrison constituencies. Try that today and there is the distinct possibility you will be tried in the international court of CNN live.
There is one more thing for politicians and the rest of us to consider. Changes of government through revolution, which the party machinery was designed to render obsolete, are infinitely more likely today than they were in the 19th century. With global communications, an unknown figure today can have a world-wide audience tomorrow; can emerge from obscurity to occupy the seat of power in the twinkling of an eye. The no-vote campaign launched by Betty Ann Blaine may not be the match to ignite the spontaneous combustion that becomes a raging inferno.
But if I were a politician I would be treating it as if it were. It's essential that governments wishing progress for their countries worry about their image and what the disaffected majority are saying. The choice of a response is no longer in the hands of politicians. The new paradigm of globalisation has handed power back to the people.
hmorgan@cwjamaica.com
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