Party Politics in Belize

University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Student Work 7-1-1975 Party politics in Belize Thomas E. Ryan University of Nebraska at Omaha Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork Recommended Citation Ryan, Thomas E., "Party politics in Belize" (1975). Student Work. 512. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/512 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Work by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PARTY POLITICS IN BELIZE A Thesis Presented to the Department of Political Science and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska at Omaha In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Thomas E. Ryan July, 1975 //£rV- 7/ UMI Number: EP73150 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI EP73150 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 THESIS ACCEPTANCE Accepted for the faculty of the Graduate College of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, in partial ful fillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts. Graduate Committee Name Department Chairman Da^te ^ CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Chapter I. THE SETTING, PROBLEM, SOURCES, AND PROCEDURE . ............. 1 II. THE GUATEMALAN IMPERATIVE. .......... 12 III. POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COLONY. ........... 26 IV. THE GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURE .................... 38 V. THE FORMATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES ...... 47 VI. CONTEMPORARY PARTY POLITICS. ........... 61 VII. FINDINGS: THE POLITICAL PARTY SYSTEM AND MODERNIZATION IN BELIZE . ....... 80 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......... 85 APPENDIXES A. British Honduras Constitution Ordinance 1963 .......................................... 93 B. The National Manifesto Of The National Independence Party. ........... 147 C. Former People's United Party Manifesto For The 197 0' s . ............................. 163 D. The United Democratic Party's Manifesto For Belize 1974-1979.......... 183 E. The Current People's United Party Manifesto: The Manifesto For The Independent Belize 1974-1979 ............... ......... 201 iii acknowledgement The writer would like to express his gratitude to all those who provided assistance during the course of this study. In Belize all respondents were especially informative and generous with their time. Special thanks goes to the Codd family for their magnanimous hospitality and friendship during the visits to Belize. A note of appreciation is also extended to the members of my thesis committee, Dr. H. Carl Camp, Dr. James Johnson and Dr. Joong-Gun Chung for their helpful suggestions and guidance. iv In Britain, parliamentary institutions have been developing for, let us say, seven hundred years. In many colonies an attempt is being made to cover the same ground in a generation. The Hansard Society CHAPTER I THE SETTING, PROBLEM, SOURCES, AND PROCEDURE Background Remarks In Central America on the coast of the Caribbean Sea directly south of Mexico and east of Guatemala lies a novel little territory named Belize, Belize, formerly called British Honduras, is presently in the final transitional phase from colonial to independent status. Belize possesses internal self-government. Still, its people, and particu larly its leaders, anxiously await the moment when complete independence finally arrives. This sentiment is graphically illustrated by the subtitle of the manifesto published by the countryTs major political party--The Manifesto For the Inde pendent Belize: A Plan for the Belizean People To Clear the Last Hurdle In the Glorious Struggle to Create an Independent Belize in the Heart of The Caribbean Basin.-*- The climate of opinion appears to be not so much anti-British as it is pro- independence. ^The People's United Party, The Manifesto For The Inde pendent Belize: A Plan for the Belizean People*To Clear the Last Hurdle In the Glorious Struggle to Create an Independent Belize in the Heart of The Caribbean Basin. 1974-1979 (Belize City, Belize: The Belize Times, 1974), P* 1* 1 In the three decades since the conclusion of World War II, a plethora of new national states has emerged, many of which gained recognition only in the wake of difficult and often turbulent revolutionary movements V Belize has been fortunate in this regard, and can proudly boast a bloodless independence movement notable for steady advancement toward self-government rather than for revolutionary excess. Although Belize is geographically located on the Central American mainland, culturally, socially and politically it appears to be more ’’Caribbean” than it does ’’Latin.” Evidence of this affinity lies in the large black population, the Creole dialect spoken in Belize and found in various forms throughout the Caribbean, British customs, and a recent colo nial relationship. Caribbean music and dancing are the favor ites among these highly convivial people. Books and articles on the Caribbean generally contain chapters or material on Belize while publications on Latin America usually do notV 2jn this context see Brian Crozier, The Rebels: A Study Of Post-War Insurrections (Boston: Beacon Press, I960) and a sequel, The Morning After: A Study Of Independence (New York Oxford University Press, 1963); Richard H. Sanger,Insurgent Era: New Patterns of Political. Economic and Social Revolu tions (Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books, Inc., 19&7) *> and for an excellent country-by-country account see G. Etzel Pearcy and Elvyn A. Stoneman, A Handbook Of New Nations (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1968). ^See Sir Harold Mitchell, Caribbean Patterns: A Politi cal and Economic Study of the Contemporary Caribbean (2nd ed.; New York: John Wiley & Sons, 19727V and Wendell Bell, ’’New States In the Caribbean: A Grounded Theoretical Account,” Building States And Nations: Analysis by Region, Vol. II, ed. S. N. Eisenstadt and Stein Rokkan X Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications, 1973)9 PP* 177-208. The contrast between Belize and her Latin neighbors has been described by one writer thus: Life in British Honduras is essentially good, whereas life in Latin America is essentially bad (except in Costa Rica and Uruguay). British Honduras has good education, good health, no illiteracy and no cor ruption, Latin America however abounds in wicked dictators, much and diverse cruelty, poor social and health services, little education and, above all, the most appalling corruption. Life there does seem to be far worse in fact than in any fic tional portrayal.^ While the dichotomous nature of this comparison between life in the two areas might be open to debate in some respects, there can be little doubt that in the political arena, the differences are truly fundamental. Belize has had a .peace ful, if incomplete, independence movement; it elects its leaders by universal suffrage and abides by the r e s u l t s ; 5 its government includes an independent judiciary, a neutral civil service and no army; and its maturing polity is marked by increasing popular interest in the political system, stabil ity, and lack of violence. ^Editorial Staff, nA Colony In Dispute," The Round Table: A quarterly Review of British Commonwealth Affairs« 48 (March, 1958), p. 159. ^Ample proof of the recognized legitimacy of election returns was provided in the recent national elections by the acceptance of several very close decisions. In three divi sions, a difference of only 17 votes emerged. One candidate lost by 1 2 , another by four and the most popular young oppo sition politician in Belize today, Ken Tillett', missed by only a single tally. "National Elections 1974 Results," The Reporter Belize City, Belize , November 4, 1974, p. 4* 4 Latin American politics, on the other hand, is widely noted for militarism, corruption, repression, anarchy, ter rorism and chaos of all types. The very titles of studies on the subject enunciate this message. Violence is an elemen tal force in Latin politics and is claimed by many to be habitual if not inherent in the area’s political processes. Violence seems to be institutionalized in the organiza tion, maintenance, and changing of governments in Latin America. The methodology of force is found in advanced and in backward countries, in Indian, mestizo, and white republics, in the large states and in the small ones, in urban and in rural areas, in agricultural and in industrial organizations, in the beginning of the twentieth century, in the present period, and in the early, middle, and late nineteenth century— in a word, wherever and whenever Hispanic culture is to be found in the Western Hemisphere.' The great difference in the part played by violence in the political culture of Belize and Latin America generally is undoubtedly due in no small part to their differing colo nial legacies. The Latin colonial heritage consisted of ^Francisco Jose Moreno and Barbara Mitrani (eds.), Conflict And Violence In Latin American Politics (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1971); Kalman H. Silvert, The Con flict Society: Reaction and Revolution in Latin America T*New York: American University Field Staff, 1966); Elaine H. Burnell (ed.), One Spark from Holocaust: The Crisis in Latin America (New York: Interbook, Inc., 1972); Kenneth F. John- son, ’’Causal Factors in Latin American Political Instabil ity," Western Political Quarterly, 17 (September, 1964), pp. 432-446; H. Fox, "Guatemala: Battleground of the West,” North American Review. 254 (Spring, 1969), pp. 3-5; Robert D. Putnam, "Toward Explaining Military Intervention in Latin American Politics," World Politics, 20 (October, 1967), pp.

Load more