Influenced by global capital and external forces, the small developing countries of the Caribbean share historical legacies of foreign domination and transplanted institutions.

In Contradictory Existence, the relationship between capitalism, manifested in the contemporary dispensation as neoliberalism, and democracy is explored and the authors demonstrate how history, culture, geopolitics and the demands of international capital influence the tension between development and democracy.

Cutting across the fields of sociology, anthropology, politics and international relations, the contributors to this volume challenge some of the assumptions of how democracy works in the context of capitalist development practised by most Caribbean countries since the 1990s; and how race, gender and class influence the exercise of democracy. At a more fundamental level, Contradictory Existence questions whether neoliberalism is the model best suited for the postcolonial nation building enterprise only 50 years young.