Lecture/presentation on my dissertation findings – the thesis, "Caricom Single Market Economy (CSME) in global perspective: How can the furtherance of Caribbean regional integration through the CSME foster greater growth and development in a globalising world?"
Thursday 26 April, 2012, start time 1900hrs. Join me if you can at the University of the West Indies Open Campus Dominica, Elmshall Road, Roseau, Dominica.
Abstract
The Caribbean regional integration movement, among the ex-British colonies, post-World War II, has been persistent. Taking the form of a process which has resulted in institutions such as the West Indian Federation, CARIFTA, CARICOM and now the CSME, it has not, however, been successful at achieving full political and economic union. This thesis aims to discover what difference the current phase of the Caribbean regional integration process, CSME, can make. How can the CSME achieve its objectives in a rapidly changing and globalising world? Using a combination of desktop research, academic research literature, and contemporary views, this thesis explores the development of Caribbean regional integration alongside changes in the globalisation process and examines the dynamics of the linkages between the global, regional and national on the CSME in achieving its objectives. This thesis asks the question, can the CSME deliver and if so how. It then seeks to answer this question by analysing what went into the shaping of the CSME i.e. policies and objectives, and what has come out of the CSME, its establishment i.e. implementation and deliverables.
In conclusion, I argue that the evidence suggests that the potential for the CSME to achieve its objectives is immense but only through full implementation, ushering in a new regionalism based on new relations, linkages, opportunities and scale. I recommend regional institutional capacity building, an authoritative governance body and the stepping up of a leader country to coalesce the CSME for transformational change. However, as of July 2011, CSME is postponed.
