By Dr. Derek Alleyne

Many of the current policy and programme directions pursued by the administration of Mia Mottley represent less a new political philosophy than a resurgence of the governance model associated with the era of Tom Adams.

At its core, that model reflected an authoritarian, top-down approach to decision-making, one rooted in hierarchical management, where policies, priorities, and programmes were formulated centrally by political leadership and then imposed downward for implementation with limited grassroots input or participatory engagement.

The philosophy placed political authority at the centre of national life.

Older Barbadians would remember the infamous “Lionel Craig vow,” a doctrine suggesting that anything associated with the Democratic Labour Party, whether Douglas Leopold Phillips or anyone else, would be met with political starvation. Debate has long surrounded the origins and precise wording of the statement, but its practical implications became embedded within a system where political office increasingly determined access, opportunity, and influence.