ABSTRACT
I offer in this a reading of the Michael Manley administration of Jamaica over the period 1972–1980 through the lens provided by the theory of democratic political tragedy. It will highlight the more progressive features of his political agenda that resonated with so many Jamaicans in a country that, by 1972, was only a decade removed from colonial status and consequently afflicted by social and economic inequalities, as well as by the restrictions that came with its designation as a hinterland of extraction – to borrow from the Plantation School variation of Dependency Theory. The manner in which the opposition to his agenda was articulated at the local level provides the structural framework for this as an instance of democratic political tragedy. Manley, as the tragic figure central to this instance of political drama, will be sculpted in relief against this backdrop. Consideration will be given to his noble intentions, but also to his indecision and his telling vacillations that had dire consequences for so many at home and abroad who found themselves heavily invested in his political project.
