Barbados’ Transition to a Republic
Bridgetown, Barbados. 2016. Licensed Under Creative Commons 3.0.
On the 30th of November, 2021, Barbados became a republic – ditching the queen as its head of state. The transition was marked by a significant celebration which portrayed the great culture and history of the Barbadian people and the prowess of Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Barbados was one of the earliest colonies of England and slavery was paramount to sugar production on the island. The nation was often referred to as “little England” due to its importance and throughout its history, an immense connection to the crown has endured. Hence, though they have not exerted true control over the nation in decades, this transition will surely dampen English spirits.
The implications entailed in this change can be summed up briefly. Primarily, the Barbadian government will cut ties with the Queen of the United Kingdom, who previously served as the head of state. The Queen’s representative in Barbados was known as the appointed governor general, most recently Sandra Mason. With no need for a British representative, the governor general has been replaced with a presidential position that is elected by the country’s parliament. Sandra Mason was elected to this position in October, a month before the tie was severed. While the president exercised a similar apolitical and symbolic role that the governor general did, the office also no longer represents the Queen and will be elected by the Parliament of Barbados. The true legislative and executive power remains in the hands of the Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, and the Parliament of Barbados. Barbados is now a parliamentary republic, essentially the same political system that existed beforehand, but without a monarch at the head. The actual changes are minimal because the Queen and Britain have not exerted any real form of authority in Barbados for decades. The position of head of state was more symbolic and held no actual power– similar to other commonwealth nations such as Canada or Australia. Barbados has sought to remove the Queen due to the associated symbolism with the history of colonialism and slavery on the island under British rule. The transition is likely to incite feelings of nationalism and encourage a new perspective on Barbados’s history to emerge. Prime Minister Mia Mottley encapsulated this expectation by declaring: “we believe that the time has come for us to claim our full destiny.”
Barbados has decided to remain a part of the Commonwealth, a political association which consists of 54 independent nations. The Commonwealth primarily is made up of territories previously colonized by Britain. Only 15 of the commonwealth nations still have the Queen as their head of state, but they all retain political and economic ties to the United Kingdom.
Similar transitions have taken place around the world, however the last one to occur was over two decades ago by Mauritius. The 1970s saw multiple nations become republics including Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Dominica. Barbados’s transformation into a republic has endured great publicity and has undoubtedly sparked calls for a similar movement in other states. Consequently, even Canada has seen renewed calls to become a republic. A recent survey found that over 50% of Canadians do not want to remain a constitutional monarchy forever. However, actually manifesting this change is extremely difficult, with many arguing that the hassle is not worth it. Severing ties with the monarchy would require altering the constitution and a subsequent unanimous vote necessary from the senate, the house of commons, and all provincial legislatures. As a smaller nation, for Barbados this endeavour was far easier to complete than it would be for Canada and was driven by the legacy of atrocities such as the slave trade and forced labor–events Canada did not endure to the same extent. There is a similar conflict in some other constitutional monarchies where many do not want the Queen to remain head of state, yet they, too, are uncertain if the process is worth the effort due to the Crown's irrelevant role in current political systems.
In reality, the loss of Barbados as a constitutional monarchy does not mean much for the crown. In fact, the crown largely supported Barbados in their transition. The departure, however, can still be viewed as a continuation of the United Kingdom’s decline. A nation which had once colonized a territory in every inhabited continent, is no longer near the most powerful or economically influential giant in today’s geopolitics.