Foreword

• Author: Kirk Meighoo/Peter Jamadar
• Profession: Member of the Democratic National Assembly and the author of Politics in a Half-Made Society: Trinidad and Tobago 1925?2002/Judge of the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago and the author of The Mechanics of Democracy
• Pages: 9-11

Foreword |ix

Foreword

In 1989 I published: The Mechanics of Democracy – First Past the Post

v Proportional Representation. The motivation for publishing that work

was the establishment of the Hyatali Constitution Commission, in

Trinidad and Tobago. It was my way of participating in the process of

constitutional reform.

Recently I have received several requests for republication of The

Mechanics of Democracy. These requests, I believe, were prompted by

the multitude of constitutional crises that have arisen in Trinidad and

Tobago over the last two to three years. My initial response was to

dismiss the idea of revisiting or rewriting anything on the constitutional

issues surrounding electoral systems. However, the number and

persistence of the requests and the variety of quarters from which they

came persuaded me to reconsider. This work is the result of that

reconsideration.

Once I decided to write on electoral systems, it became clear that

my original work fell far short of what was required to meet the needs of

any debate on electoral systems at present or in the future. What was

needed, required the input of someone with whom I could collaborate

to achieve the ends now apparent.

As a consequence, I approached Dr. Kirk Meighoo. What began as

a project to revise and update The Mechanics of Democracy, soon became

an independent work, largely because of the input of Dr. Meighoo and

the dialogue that ensued between us. Indeed, this final product is the

result of the breadth and depth of scholarship and insight which Dr.

Meighoo has brought to this work. I am truly indebted to him for his

commitment to and enthusiasm for this project.