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.
"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"
ReplyDeleteI can only assess by your abstract here, however, I think you are approaching the mountain from the wrong trail. The movement for Caribbean regionalism has lacked one thing only...unity and determination of mind towards a common purpose. The systemic issues that all of our regional organizations have faced have resulted from individual islands seeking their own purpose, seemingly, without regard for the greater movement.
You cannot put new wine in old wine skins. To introduce the solutions you recommended, with any semblance of success, you would need to prepare the soil. One of the systemic issues in the Caribbean basin is that each island is on a different level of economic and social development. Caribbean regionalism can potentially widen that polarity, or decrease it. To most of the small islands, the former is expected, so there is a sense that one has to forge a way for oneself, inviting foreign trade and other alliances that may hamper the purpose of regional policy. On the other hand, the larger islands tend to view regional effects in the latter, which also invites them to make trade and other alliances that defeat any attempts at regional policy. The root problem, therein, is the lack of value of the whole, while over-pricing the parts. The Caribbean basin is only as strong as the sum of it's parts will allow. It will take a social revolution (and I am in no way considering this from a socialist perspective, which simply could not fit). The masses must be of one mind, to create individual government with like mindset, and thus a region with one common identity and goal. Only when the soil is balanced will you note growth from the very necessary solutions you suggest. Until then, one may as well expect a reflection of the European Union in the Caribbean Sea.
And I might add, you said it well: "The day that the vision of us as one nation and one people in the Caribbean Sea, with a shared origin, history, experience, future and common identity, escapes us, is the day that we lose what it means to be a Caribbean People," Gerald J La Touche.
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