In this new edited volume, Holger Henke and Fred Reno build
on their important collection Modern
Political Culture in the Caribbean (2003) and revisit some of the themes in
Caribbean political culture explored some eighteen years earlier. The
contributors to New Political Culture in the Caribbean consider more recent
developments precipitating significant changes in the political attitudes and
discourses in the region. Even the persistent themes in Caribbean political
life – issues such as race, ethnicity, sovereignty, civil rights, or poverty –
allow for new consideration, not only because of their longevity but also
because in their contemporary form they may speak to new dynamics in society or
find different forms of expression or political impact.

The quality of political discourse – in terms of its content
and forms of presentation – has significantly shifted over the first decades of
the twenty-first century, and the impact of social media and a concomitant rise
of political fringe discourses have accelerated the fragmentation of the public
and polity, leading to sharper confrontations in the political sphere and
giving once again rise to crude forms of nationalism. There are also various
stressors and pressures that run counter to simplistic notions of nationalism
and point to a great urgency for more transparent, sustainable, participatory
and equitable modalities of political engagement and discourses in the
region.