Michael Manley - The Politics of Equality

Edited by Delano Franklyn

Published: 2009

Michael Manley was a true internationalist who understood the complex interplay among national, regional and global processes. He readily grasped the fact that the historically determined structures underpinning these relationships played an important role in perpetuating the asymmetric power relations between the developed and developing countries and the need therefore for the adoption of a proactive stance in promoting the interests of the latter. It was this conviction that led him to become an articulate and persuasive spokesman in Third World forums such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77. Indeed during the 1970s and 1980s, Manley became the most articulate voice on behalf of the developing world in championing the cause of the New International Economic Order which dominated the international economic agenda during the period. Almost single-handedly, he challenged the forces of oppression both at home and abroad.

Although many of Michael Manley’s ideas have appeared in previously published works, the annual budget presentations which he delivered, both in his capacity as Prime Minister and as Leader of the Opposition, contain a faithful record of his political vision and his economic philosophy. It is fitting therefore that Delano Franklyn, who has shown himself to be a keen student of politics and history, based on the meticulous research and documentation reflected in his previous publications, should undertake to publish this volume.

- Taken from “Foreword"