Politics of Identity in Small Plural Societies

STACEY-ANN WILSONPolitical scientist serving as a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.

• PART I: FRAMING THE RESEARCH Conceptualizing Identity: Ethnicity and Culture Six Available Perspectives on Identity and Politics Ethnopolitics: An Analytic Framework PART II: ETHNICITY AND POLITICS IN SMALL DEVELOPING STATES Guyana: the Uncooperative Republic Fiji: Indigenous Paramountcy Trinidad and Tobago: The Politics of Accommodation

'Wilson's analysis demonstrates how in the permanency of scarce benefits and spoils, negative ethnicity endures as the best tool of the political elite. It is well argued, thoroughly documented, and helpfully comparative. It should be the last stop for anyone who wants to understand the politics of small states.'Raymond Muhula, World Bank'This is an original and significant book. It makes important contributions to the disciplines of political science, sociology, history, and anthropology, adding to and updating the scant literature on the politics of small states, specifically our knowledge of contemporary politics in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and the Fiji Islands. This book provides a riveting study of how elites and electorates manipulate ethnicity in pursuit of scarce benefits and spoils, and poses new questions and new paradigms for future comparative work.'Marilyn Lashley, Howard University