21 st century reparations beyond slavery: the Bridgetown initiative as an expression of reparative politics

The Bridgetown Initiative seeks reforms of the global financial architecture and development finance in response to converging multiple global crises. Although the Initiative is not directly linked to reparations, its ideas revolve around related issues. This paper draws on post-colonial theory and international political economy to analyse how the Initiative reframes current issues as morally necessary to help address persistent underdevelopment. It explores the Caribbean’s enduring calls for reparations from former colonial powers and opens reparations discourse in the 21st century to look beyond slavery to include wider issues. The paper contends that the Initiative is a pragmatic expression of reparative politics even though it avoids reparations terminology.