Constitutional Reform in Barbados: A Failure to Dismantle Westminster

Abstract

It is well-documented that the Westminster system that was implanted in the Caribbean from Britain, during colonisation and applied after Independence has serious defects, which are in dire need of reform. The Barbados government mandated a Constitutional Reform Commission (CRC) to examine the current Constitution and all related laws to develop a new Republican Constitution to “meet the circumstances of a 21st century Barbados.” This article examines the CRC report, in the context of the (neo)colonial Westminster system, concluding that the CRC does not dismantle the Westminster system and therefore fails to advance decolonial constitutionalism.