ABSTRACT
Ideological pluralism arose in the 1970s in the Caribbean Community
(hereafter CARICOM)1 countries in the form of socialism, an unconventional
or ‘third path’ towards attaining economic development. Given the various
economic challenges during the 1970s and 1980s stemming from the remnants
of colonialism, some countries devised their own alternative trajectories under
socialism as a way of achieving nation building and modernisation. Following
the Cuban example of popular socialism at the time, this third development
path emerged from political and economic differences between member states
within CARICOM. These countries Guyana, guided by Prime Minister Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham from 1966 to 1980 and President from 1980
to 1985, Jamaica, aided by Prime Minister Michael Norman Manley from 1972
to 1980, and Grenada, under Prime Minister Maurice Rupert Bishop from
1979 to 1983 opted for various forms of socialism in contradistinction to the
*Email: tjules@luc.edu
rest of the region which maintained Western liberal democratic principles, including various forms of capitalist ideologies (Hall 2003; Jules 2011).
