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Winston Dookeran was lauded by his peers as a stalwart in achieving Caribbean development when his book Caribbean on the Edge: the Political Stress of Stability, Equity and Diplomacy, was launched on Wednesday at Costaatt’s campus in Chaguanas.
The book, rumoured to be his last, has been described as a “timely intervention in the face of the challenges gripping our region.” The book identifies ways for new analytical leadership by confronting and engaging political issues in development, governance, and diplomacy.
Currently a professor of practice at the Institute of International Relations at UWI, Dookeran touched on three areas in his book: human justice, fixing the economy and Caribbean diplomacy.
On the matter of human justice, he said it can solve or try to solve problems of individual or societal life, enact norms, create institutions and design processes to solve actual problems.
Dookeran said, “The anguish and outrage that erupted in my homeland in the aftermath of the brutal murder of Andrea Bharatt and soon after another equally heinous murder of Ashanti Riley, two of our young women, has left our society naked, shaken to the core and exposed to ‘whatever it takes’ solutions to regain freedom and dignity."
“Leaders have been left speechless and those whose duty it is to uphold the constitutional order of the country are clearly stunned and confused. Adhering to the norms of the justice process cannot explain the outcome of that process and it would be a colossal abdication of the public responsibility to simply move on until the next episode occurs.”
The body of Riley, 18, was found in Santa Cruz five days after she went missing in November 2020. Bharatt, 23, got into a taxi in January 2021 after work but never made it to her Arima home. Her body was found days later in the Heights of Aripo.
Dookeran also gave insight into fixing the economy in areas of revising old policies since they do not work and finding new ways where there will be absorbers and buffers for immunity against supply and energy shocks and economic fallouts from global events to be able to maintain purchasing power, wages and production in the TT economy.
[caption id="attachment_951142" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Winston Dookeran presents former media manager and government minister Ken Gordon with a copy of Caribbean on the Edge: the Political Stress of Stability, Equity and Diplomacy. - AYANNA KINSALE[/caption]
The National Insurance Board, Dookeran said, should be considered a social investment rather than an additional public expenditure.
“In a philosophical sense this sort of measure is consistent with the ‘right-based approach’ to development, shaping the new normal that gets to the core of sustainability.
“The cost of the programme can be negotiated into the transaction from proceeds of the Clico proposal.”
Dookeran, 78, has worn many hats in his professional life such as Minister of Planning, Finance, and Foreign Affairs, Central Bank governor, political leader of the Congress of the People, MP and has served on several regional and international institutions.
He has written several books, including Power, Politics and Performance: A Partnership Approach for Development, Crisis and Promise in the Caribbean: Politics and Convergence (New Regionalisms Series), and a multitude of academic papers.
Economist and entrepreneur Kiran Mathur Mohammed said Dookeran’s experiences have allowed him to be resilient in the face of crisis. The book is a wake-up call, he said, for the Caribbean as small states to become active and cement their place in the globalised world.
Mohammed said, “Despite facing crises from an economic, demographic and from a security perspective we have remained like a frog boiling in a pot and Prof Dookeran has always been the more urgent voice arguing that we need to wake up.
“Dookeran, who has firsthand experienced the trials of regionalism, is in a perfect perspective to recognise the role of small states and how we navigate an increasingly realist world.”
[caption id="attachment_951143" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Winston Dookeran addresses the audience at the launch of his book, Caribbean on the Edge: the Political Stress of Stability, Equity and Diplomacy, at Costaatt’s campus in Chaguanas. - AYANNA KINSALE[/caption]
Mohammed added that the book addressed small states and regionalism, multilateral institution co-operation, regional investments, economic and security issues, human justice, equality, regional investments and Caribbean diplomacy.
“As Caribbean states, we should be looking right now at China and the US's objectives in the basin from the perspective of our own interests. How can we drive investments in the region by engaging both sides?
“The old paradigms of efficiency that have long been a hallmark of globalisation are retreating. Efficiency is our, resilience is in, particularly if we are to safeguard the security interests of democratic nations,” he said.
Secretary general of the Association of Caribbean States Rodolfo Sabonge said the book reflected Dookeran’s relentless search for solutions to Caribbean problems.
 
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