Demokratin i karibiska territorier - en självklarhet? : En kvalitativ fallstudie av de politiska förutsättningarna för nationell representation och territoriellt självbestämmande i Puerto Rico, Caymanöarna och Guadeloupe

The age of colonialism appears to be over. Some colonies remain though in the form of non-independent territories such as Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands and Guadeloupe. These territories are united in being Caribbean territories belonging to the Western democracies of the United States, the United Kingdom and France respectively. It cannot be taken for granted though that these countries provide their territories with adequate democratic institutional frameworks. The aim of this qualitative case study is to map out the political circumstances in each of these three territories through the perspectives of national representation and territorial self-governance. Ideal types are used to study each of the phenomena. The ideal type of national representation is based on descriptive representation theory and Bauböck’s three principles of democratic inclusion. Territorial self-governance is rooted in the theory of political decentralization. The secondary aim of the study is to compare the political circumstances between the territories in order to highlight potential institutional differences and democratic problems that may occur as result of the design of the political system. The study finds that the territories notably differ from each other in terms of their political circumstances regarding national representation and territorial self-governance. Some of these deviations may weaken the state of democracy in the territories.