Barbados

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Barbados is a relatively flat island of 1,116 square kilometers (431 square miles), three times the size of the U.S. District of Columbia) with a population of more than 275,000. Ninety percent of the population is of African origin. Its population growth has been quite small, chiefly due to a high emigration rate.

The British, who landed on Barbados in the early 1600s, found no inhabitants. British settlers arrived in 1627, and Barbados was a British colony until gaining its independence in 1966. British planters eventually adopted sugar cane as their cash crop, and this decision led to the consolidation of small farms into large plantations and the importation of slaves from Africa. It also made Barbados vulnerable to the vagaries of the global sugar market. Since gaining independence, Barbados has moved from dependence on sugar to an economy based on tourism.

While long a British colony, Barbados was always self-funding, with a large measure of local autonomy. Consequently, plantation owners and merchants dominated its politics, with the majority of the population being excluded. In the 1920s the descendants of African slaves sought their own political rights, and the first election held under universal suffrage was held in 1951. Between 1958 and 1962 Barbados was part of the West Indies Federation, but when that federation ended, it once again became a self-governing colony. Barbados became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth on November 30, 1966.

The first political party, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), founded in 1937, was the dominant political force until the rise of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in 1955. Prior to independence, the leader of the BLP, Sir Grantley Adams (1898–1971), was the first premier of Barbados. He also became the only prime minister of the West Indian Federation between 1958 and 1962. In 1996, Errol Walton Barrow (1920–1987) of the DLP became the first prime minister of the newly independent Barbados.

Free political competition has since led to several transfers of power between the BLP and the DLP. The parties have no major ideological differences, so competition often rests on the personalities of their leaders. The BLP returned to power in the May 2003 elections, when Owen Arthur, who also was appointed as minister of finance and minister of culture, was elected as prime minister.

Barbados is a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster model. The governor-general is the representative of Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926) of Great Britain. Its bicameral parliament consists of the House of Assembly (thirty members) and the Senate (twenty-one senators). The members of the House are elected for five-year terms. The twenty-one senators are appointed by the governor-general, twelve on advice of the prime minister, two on advice of the opposition leaders, and seven at the discretion of the governor-general.

Barbados's independent judiciary consists of magistrates' courts, a court of appeals and a Supreme Court (each with four members), but the chief justice sits on both appellate courts. Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the governorgeneral after consultation with political leaders. Her Majesty's Privy Council in London is the court of last resort.

Barbados ranked twenty-ninth of 177 countries in the United Nations Development Program's 2004 Human Development Report, the best performance of any country in Latin America or the Caribbean. Political freedom and civil liberties are fully respected in Barbados. However, a high crime rate and narcotics trafficking have adversely affected the tourism industry and raised human rights concerns.

Caribbean Region; Parliamentary Systems.

Barrow-Giles, Cynthia. Introduction to Caribbean Politics. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 2002.

Government of Barbados, Government Information Service. "History." <http://www.barbados.gov.bb/hist ory.htm>.

Griffith, Ivelaw Lloyd. Drugs and Security in the Caribbean: Sovereignty Under Siege. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.

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