Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana

Ann Marie Bissessar is a full, tenured Professor attached to the Department of Behavioural Sciences, the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus Trinidad. She has to date written/co-edited/edited sixteen books and approximately seventy articles in peer reviewed journals. Her interests include issues of governance, anti-corruption, human trafficking and political issues.John Gaffar La Guerre is Professor Emeritus attached to the Department of Behavioural Sciences, the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus Trinidad. He currently serves as the chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission, Trinidad and Tobago. La Guerre has sat on many of the Constitutional Reform Committees in Trinidad and Tobago and in 2012 was awarded with the country’s highest award, the Chaconia Gold for outstanding work in the area of higher education.

• Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: The Socio-Historical Environment in Trinidad and Tobago and GuyanaChapter 3: The Pre and Post-Independence EraChapter 4: The Mechanics of PowerChapter 5: The Triumph over RaceChapter 6: ConclusionBibliography

Bissesar and La Guerre (both, Univ. of West Indies, Trinidad) present a close study of the political-historical interface among social, economic, and international 'predisposing factors' affecting race and politics in the plural societies of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. It is too simple to say the book is about ethnicity; rather it is a case study of political/economic development within the complex interplay between forces often anchored in ethnicity. The book methodically traces these factors as they relate to the competition between the culturally East Indian and African factions within the two societies through colonial, independence, and postindependence eras. Outlined are two complex cultural rivers that ebb and flow given the development of each racial, religious, regional, and eventually gender, economic, and political influence. The effect of leadership and structural influences on electoral success of party coalitions proves particularly important for the two countries. The two authors brilliantly explore how the three countries share certain qualities but differ in predisposing factors. The book is an exemplary model of comparative research, demonstrating that there are no simple answers to complex societies. Summing Up: Recommended. Undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections.