Barbados: after four centuries under the British crown, former slave island looks to bright new republican future

By Matt Qvortrup, Chair of Applied Political Science, Coventry University

Fifty-five years after gaining independence from Britain in 1966, Barbados has become a republic – and other Commonwealth countries, where support for the monarchy is becoming more volatile than ever, could well follow in its wake.

The change to a republic has been a long time coming for the 300,000 citizens of the small Caribbean island nation. Mia Mottley, Barbados’ centre-left prime minister, has long advocated the change. As far back…

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