Jamaica: 20th Century Developments

Jamaica entered the twentieth century as a British Crown Colony with limited local political representation. Widespread labor unrest in 1938, driven by poor wages and living conditions on sugar estates and in the docks, spurred the formation of Jamaica's two dominant political movements: Alexander Bustamante's trade-union-based Jamaica Labour Party and Norman Manley's People's National Party. These organizations became the vehicles through which Jamaica gradually won expanded self-government over the following two decades.

Jamaica achieved full independence from Britain on August 6, 1962, with Bustamante becoming the country's first prime minister after his party's victory in elections held that April. The JLP and PNP settled into a competitive two-party system that would define Jamaican politics for the rest of the century, alternating control of government roughly every decade.

Michael Manley, Norman Manley's son, led a PNP government from 1972 to 1980 that pursued democratic socialist policies and closer ties with Cuba, a period marked by economic strain and heightened political tension. Edward Seaga's JLP defeated Manley in the 1980 election on a platform of market-oriented reform and closer relations with the United States. Jamaica's late-century governments worked to stabilize the economy and manage debt, while the country's culture, particularly reggae music, gained increasing international recognition.