Jamaica

Jamaica Under British sovereignty from 1655, it became the centre for the supply of sugar and rum for the British Empire, as well as the hub of the Caribbean slave trade until its abolition in 1833. In subsequent decades, its economy attracted investment by large-scale US-owned banana plantations. A British Crown Colony from 1866, representative government was gradually introduced from 1884. The Great Depression triggered considerable unrest and racial tension, which ultimately led to the foundation in 1938 of the People's National Party (PNP) by Norman Manley, modelled on the British Labour Party. In response, the conservative Bustamante Industrial Trade Union was created in 1938, from which the right-wing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) emerged in 1943, created and led by Bustamante. The JLP won the first elections on a universal suffrage in 1944, and narrowly won the 1949 elections, but lost the subsequent elections (1955, 1959) to the PNP. In 1958, Jamaica joined the Federation of the West Indies, though Bustamante's successful campaign for Jamaican independence from the federation contributed towards its breakup in 1962.

Jamaica became independent on 6 August 1962, in the week when a general election returned Bustamante to power. In 1972, power returned to the PNP under Michael Manley. From 1974, he pursued a moderate socialist economic programme. With the aim of individual and national self-reliance, social policies were introduced, and the foreign-controlled bauxite mining companies partly nationalized to give the state majority control. While popular domestically (the PNP won the 1976 elections with a record 56.4 per cent of the vote), these costly policies alienated international investors and led to a drastic capital flight from Jamaica. On the brink of bankruptcy, Manley refused to accept IMF funds which would have implied cuts in social spending, so that in the late 1970s Jamaica drifted into economic and social chaos. Helped by massive US aid, the JLP under Edward Seaga won the 1980 elections, introducing drastic economic reform and restoring close relations with the USA. After a brief economic boom, however, the country was hit by a severe recession in 1982, and was devastated by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Both of these factors compounded the effects of the IMF-imposed austerity policies, and led to the defeat of the JLP in the 1989 general elections. To general surprise, once returned to power, Manley continued his predecessor's economic policies. Manley was succeeded by Percival J. Patterson (PNP) in 1992. In 1994, the banking system collapsed. The state took up much of the bill, at the cost of growing foreign public debts which amounted to over 140 per cent of GNP in 2000. In addition, Jamaica was suffering from increasing street violence and a malfunctioning criminal justice system. According to Amnesty International, Jamaica also had the highest per capita incidence of murders committed by the police in 2001.