Democracy and the End of Revolution in the Contemporary Caribbean

This essay discusses Brian Meeks's assertions on the centrality of democracy to transforming the Caribbean in his book Critical Interventions in Caribbean Politics and Theory (2014). It considers the relationship between democracy and revolution in the Caribbean in light of Meeks's optimism that democracy is the means of producing radical change in the region and given antidemocratic sentiments among the people, expressed most powerfully in low value for the human in the Jamaican context. Using Meeks's premise that ethical questions are at the heart of radical change, the essay discusses how ethical relations as shaped by race, class, and gender are relevant to Caribbean revolution, arguing that collapse might be the most significant reality that gives reason to hope for revolution and respect for the human in the contemporary Caribbean.