Political clientelism and democracy in Belize: From my hand to yours

Clegg, Peter

Abstract

On many measures the standards of democracy, elections, accountability, transparency, and economic performance in the Commonwealth Caribbean appear to be relatively high. Since independence, democracy has remained well-entrenched, bar one or two notable exceptions; there are regular transfers of power between the main political parties, turnout at elections continues to be generally healthy, there are a good number of institutional checks and balances, and GDPs per capita are in the middle-income category. However, as is often the case, when you look behind the headlines, the story is more complicated and often less positive. And this is where the volume by Vernon is so important. It is one of a very small number of studies (the others consider Jamaica), which focus on the key issue of political clientelism: what it is, how it operates, and its impacts on the broader body politic.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 29, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 14, 2023
• Publication Date: Jan 2, 2023
• Deposit Date: Mar 2, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 3, 2024
• Journal: The Round Table
• Print ISSN: 0035-8533
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-029X
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 112
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 94-95
• Item Discussed: By Dylan Vernon, Kingston, The University of the West Indies Press, 2022, xvi + 299 pp., $50 (paperback), ISBN 9789766408961
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2023.2166221
• Keywords: Geography, Planning and Development
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10483385
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00358533.2023.2166221?journalCode=ctrt20