In a recent paper written by Bahamian scholar, Dr. Nicolette Bethel, she discussed federalizing the Bahamian government model to promote decentralization and national progress. Dr. Bethel indicated that local government as presently constituted is a “farce” because the quality of government experienced in the family islands is not on par with democratic representation in Nassau. The Bahamas consist of 700 disjointed reefs, cays and islands, those that are populated are governed by a centralized body from the capital city, Nassau. In these contemporary times democracy management is constant; therefore, its managers should also be constant. However, because of the excess amount of tasks in their portfolios, Members of Parliament rarely executes true constituency administration. To combat and correct the issue of failed constituency administration, local government in the family islands should be enhanced; and then this innovative model of local government should be introduced to Nassau. This papers sets out to clarify decentralization as a term, explain why it is necessary, explicate the model that exist in The Bahamas and give details on how to change and correct that concept.
In recent years, many countries have pondered and examined ways to expand the reach of true democracy in their respective countries. In the article titled, “Decentralization and Service Delivery”, the writers claimed that the incentives for decentralization differ on a country by country basis. Decentralization can be defined as the delegation of power from a solitary source to a number of ancillary sources.
It should be noted that in the case of The Bahamas, federalization and decentralization should be done to permit progress and development in the family i...
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“Jamaica’s a country of great dichotomy. On the one hand you have a tourist industry with great beaches and resorts, but on the other you have such great poverty and the violence that goes along with that.”(Michael Franti) In this paper, I will talk about the geography, the history of Jamaica, the people that live there now and that lived there in the past, the lifestyle of the society, and the society, like the government and economy.
Royer, Jordan. “Hurricane Sandy and the importance of being FEMA”, Crosscut.com, Crosscut.com, Web. 1 Nov 2012, 3 May 2014.
In spite of this, the Jamaican government does not have to govern as many people as the United States’ government is obliged to. The entire country of Jamaica has an area merely of about 4,244 square miles and a population of approximately 2,825,928, wit...
The relationship between a local government and its people is typically a combined form of stability, as well as discordant moments of tension and rising-to-dramatic change. More specifically, the political climate of the local government differs depending on how those people view the three aspects of their governmental calls and needs: rights and responsibility of the people, obligations of their government, and limits on the local governmental authority.
Kevin B. Smith, Alan Greenblatt, and John Buntin, Governing states and localities: First Edition (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press), 2005, 95.
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The nation of Jamaica has had a rich cultural and political history. From the island’s days as a colony up until today it has proven that its people are resilient, passionate, and have an extremely high level of national pride. IT has been shown that the violence that marred the election of 1980 was not due to the government’s brief flirtation with communism, but with more underlying issues. It has been shown that the history of the island has been impacted by several instances of similar violent outbursts resulting from a public feeling of frustration with the rulers at the time. From the time of Bustamante on into the 80s and 90s, the balance of power has shifted because of severe public dissatisfaction with the party in power. It is unknown whether or not this cycle will continue, but as of today, the threat of violence in Jamaica is a very serious one.
Explore how a transition from an autonomous structure to a centralized structure affects regional performance.
“It’s Better In The Bahamas”. This slogan advertises throughout the world to attract tourist. Is it really better in the Bahamas? Many articles on television and in the news paper address the issues in the Bahamian society. While many pay no attention to this dilemma, many Bahamians live in constants fear. Miss Bijoux a single parent lost her job two months ago. One night she lay down on her bed thinking of all the possibilities of obtaining a job. Deep in thought how is she going to care for her children, and how is she going to help her twelve year old pregnant daughter? Lost to the world her phone rings, hello she said the caller answer hi, is this Bijoux residence? I am calling from PMH (Princess Margaret Hospital). Mrs. Bijoux drop the phone and runs to her children’s rooms. When she reaches to her son’s room he was not there, she kneel down on the floor and recites a prayer “Lord please let my son be okay”. Immediately, she calls her family to pick her up and drive her to the Hospital. When she arrives at the hospital she saw her lifeless son on the ventilator in pulmonary distress with blood stains over his clothes. Without shedding a tear, she waited patiently for good news. Unfortunately, her son expires three hours later. Mrs. Bijoux is a victim of a drive by shooting in Nassau Village. While the Bahamas is battling against the economic crisis, the three major issues in the Bahamian society are crimes, unemployment and sexual abuse.
A local government, like an individual family, needs to have an income. The reason for this is because in the same way that a family needs money in order to take care of its family members, so does a local government need to take care of its citizens. While the heads of households in a family goes to work in order to collect a paycheck, a local government gathers its income from the taxes that it charges for its everyday services to its citizens. Because taxes are paid in exchange for a service from the government, and because they are a government’s main source of revenue, it is very important that a local government keep a well-defined list of taxes that apply to its local situation.
On a large scale, governance describes methods a governing body uses to ensure its citizens follow established protocol. At the macro level, there is a loosely coupled organizations structure that supervises and maintains respons...
The Caribbean remains fragmented both economically and politically as a result of competition and conflict among the European powers. Fragmentation is in part the product of a long history as separate colonies of a metropolitan power or powers. It is also in part the psychological effects on people of separation by sea.
Nand C, Bardouille. “The Transformation of governance paradigms and modalities.” The Round Table, (Jan 2000), Vol. 353. P. 81-106.
Political decentralization supports transparency for one of its aims is to better inform it people on the decision process that is taking place in the government. By this, the citizens of that state or that region are given the chance to participate more and can further influence the decision making of their own government. The citizens’ local interests are better represented because its representatives cannot hide from them and by this many will be more enthusiastic about participating and be more interested in the government and this in return will make the citizens complain less and accept rules or policies that will be passed or implemented by their government. This will create less chaos and opposition from the citizens and will result to faster implementation of rules and many will acknowledge the passed rule or policy at a much quicker pace since they were a part in all of the process.