ABSTRACT
This study investigates the complex problem of political corruption in the states and territories of the Caribbean. It argues that we cannot understand the many puzzles about political corruption unless we first have a comprehensive theory of its causes. This study develops an interdisciplinary theory of the causes of political corruption. It then presents a historical survey of Caribbean political corruption and a review of contemporary Caribbean institutional factors theorized to contribute to a state's political corruption problems. Finally, the theory is advanced through case studies of political corruption in Jamaica and Costa Rica. The study demonstrates how international factors such as colonialism, neo-imperialism, transnational corporations, foreign businesses, and drug trafficking contribute to the region's political corruption problems. The study concludes, however, that there are more significant domestic factors that cause today's high levels of Caribbean political corruption. Specifically, the major cause of political corruption is Caribbean governing elite who manipulate their society's political and economic institutional development and provide themselves the opportunities to plunder state resources for their own benefit at the expense of their citizenry.
