Size and institutional legitimacy: the case of St Kitts and Nevis

Abstract

Whereas the introduction of democratic structures in third wave-countries has generally been successful, the legitimacy of such institutions remains restricted. Since microstates are excluded from most studies, and in consideration of theories that actually presuppose a higher level of institutional legitimacy in smaller settings, it is unclear to what extent these findings can be extended to newly democratic microstates. In the current article, this puzzle is addressed by a comparative analysis of the legitimacy of three types of institutions in the Caribbean microstate of St Kitts and Nevis. On the basis of interview data, it is found that size actually exacerbates the lack of legitimacy that has been observed in larger new democracies.

Keywords:

• microstates
• political legitimacy
• institutions
• size
• democracy

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Notes

In similar fashion, Peters points out that ‘[i]n spite of the existence of open, regular elections, opposition parties, and other institutional aspects of a modern democracy, the governmental system of the Eastern Caribbean does not function like a democracy’ (1992, p. 2).

Throughout the article, I occasionally use interview quotes to underline or illustrate my findings and the analytical narrative. Due to the strong interpersonal relations and the smallness of St Kitts and Nevis's society, I have decided not to disclose the names and professions of the people to whom the specific interview excerpts belong.

People in the federation commonly refer to this as ‘politricks’.

One of the academics I interviewed claimed that this dependence on government was also harmful for democracy in the country:

[t]his sense of entanglement in government (…) muzzles people's willingness to express themselves. In other words: it impinges on the freedom of speech, and as you and I very well know, once you impinge on the freedom of speech, you actually impinge on one of the principles of democracy.

Freedom House, for example, asserts that ‘[t]he judiciary is largely independent’ (Freedom House, 2011).

The Labour Spokesman is openly affiliated with the Labour Party, the Democrat is aligned to PAM, the Leeward Times is mostly seen as supportive of the NRP, and the Saint Kitts and Nevis Observer is usually seen as leaning towards the CCM.

According to World Bank statistics, 41.6 per cent of the labour force in the federation works in the public sector (Carrizosa, 2007, p. 4). However, according to Sir Inniss, in the beginning of the 1980s at least 90 per cent of jobs in the country are either directly or indirectly controlled by government (1983, p. 80).

After Japan, St Kitts and Nevis has the highest public debt as percentage of the GDP in the world.