The University of Guyana (UG) Press has launched Essays on the Political Economy of the Anglophone Caribbean, a new publication by Professor Emeritus Jay Mandle that examines the region’s economic and political development, the shortcomings of its post-independence ambitions and the challenges facing countries seeking more sustainable and diversified economies.
The book was launched on October 6, 2026, through a partnership between the University of Guyana and its Press. Mandle, the W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Colgate University in the United States, also serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Guyana’s Green Institute.
In the publication, Mandle critically examines why the English-speaking Caribbean has fallen short of the aspirations articulated by pioneering intellectuals and political thinkers following the collapse of the West Indies Federation. Among those whose ideas helped shape the region’s development discourse are Walter Rodney, Lloyd Best and Arthur Lewis.
The book explores the historical, national, regional and geopolitical forces that have influenced the political economies of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. It also considers whether Caribbean countries can identify new opportunities for economic and political advancement within the global economy.
Drawing on the intellectual tradition of Lloyd Best, Mandle emphasises the importance of examining the region’s circumstances through its own experiences and realities rather than relying uncritically on external models.
Best argued that “we have to make sense of our own reality in terms of what we learn from what is on the ground.”
Mandle applies this approach to issues including economic diversification in Trinidad and Tobago and the growing threat of climate change to Georgetown, Guyana’s coastal capital. The book is intended to contribute to discussions among policymakers, political leaders, researchers and others concerned with the region’s development.
Dr Thomas Singh, Director of the University of Guyana’s Green Institute, chaired the launch and praised Mandle’s scholarship and engagement with Caribbean development.
Singh described the book as a significant contribution to regional intellectual discourse, saying Mandle had brought:
“Scholarship of the highest standards, intellectual rigor, earnest engagement with the Caribbean, with Caribbean thinkers, and the deepest knowledge and insights about economic development.”
Singh added that the publication offers the region an opportunity to reconsider its development experience, learn from past successes and failures, and identify more effective approaches to the future.
Professor Emeritus Paget Henry of Brown University, who delivered remarks at the launch, said the book “speaks to our moment,” pointing to changes in the Caribbean’s intellectual landscape.
Henry described neoliberal economics and French post-structuralism as “two intellectual hurricanes” that swept through the region during what he characterised as a period of “intellectual recolonisation.”
He argued that these influences had not conquered the region and were now in retreat, leaving an intellectual vacuum that Mandle’s work could help address.
Henry said Mandle was, “in his own way,” offering the Caribbean:
“A circuit breaker to get us off of these neoliberal tracks that have not been the best for our region.”
Trinidadian economist Dr Vanus James, a former senior policy adviser at the United Nations Development Programme, also reflected on the book’s treatment of decolonisation and economic diversification.
Drawing on his experience working with Caribbean intellectuals Lloyd Best and Arthur Lewis, James challenged the view that Dutch disease was the principal obstacle to economic diversification in Trinidad and Tobago. Instead, he identified what he called “slow learning” and “public policy disease,” linking the latter to authoritarian governance.
In his remarks, Mandle said learning was central to the contributions of both Henry and James and remained fundamental to his own research into Caribbean societies and their development challenges.
He explained that the book grew out of accumulated knowledge and empirical analysis, with the intention of helping readers better understand the region’s options for moving forward.
Mandle said he hoped the publication would:
“Contribute to an understanding of the way forward.”
UG Press seeks to strengthen Caribbean scholarship
The launch also highlighted the University of Guyana Press’s role in publishing and preserving scholarship produced in and about the Caribbean.
Press Manager Kerrina Leslie said academic publishing was an investment in knowledge, stressing that the institution’s mission extended beyond producing books to safeguarding intellectual contributions.
“We publish not simply to produce books, but to preserve scholarship,” Leslie said.
Mandle welcomed the opportunity to publish with a Caribbean institution, expressing support for strengthening regional ownership of scholarship.
“I wanted it to be a book about the Caribbean, published by the Caribbean,” he said.
University of Guyana Head Librarian Debra Lowe noted that the Press had joined a list of recognised publishers that had published Mandle’s work.
Meanwhile, Dr Dianna DaSilva-Glasgow, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, expressed hope that the publication would inform teaching, research and policy discussions on the region’s economic future.
Copies of Essays on the Political Economy of the Anglophone Caribbean can be obtained through the University of Guyana Press website at https://press.uog.edu.gy/, where readers can pre-order the paperback edition or purchase the EPUB version.
