The Integration Movement In The Caribbean At Crossroads

The reinvigorated debate on imperialism in the last two decades focuses on the means by which Euro-American capital is currently spread around the globe and the different ways it pillages the wealth of the developing countries. The Economic Partnership Agreements being foisted on the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries by the European Union, however, has been under the radar of the debate on imperialism. This book draws on the experiences of the Caribbean Forum-EU EPA to fill that void by bringing into focus the economic partnership agreement as a conduit of European imperialism. Dennis C. Canterbury, Ph.D. (2000) in Sociology, Binghamton University (State University of New York), is Associate Professor of Sociology at Eastern Connecticut State University. He has published extensively on development issues including "Neoliberal Democratization and New Authoritarianism" (Ashgate 2005).

"Ever since the collapse of the West Indies Federation in 1958, debate has raged on the subject of regional integration. In this collection, the contributors illustrate that Caribbean people s similarities far outweigh any drawbacks from their diversity. The survival and success of regional institutions in health, social services, youth empowerment, education and agriculture, among others, have served to create a common bond of understanding and appreciation of the oneness of the Caribbean people. While the regional integration movement is primarily an institutional activity, its success will depend largely on the impact on the people of the region by these institutions. The contributors argue that an approach which puts people a the centre of development is necessary for the construction and effective functioning of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy the linchpin of Caribbean survival in the new globalized dispensation. "

Over de rol van ideologie in het Caribische regionale integratieproces.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the role of regional integration in the contemporary Caribbean, challenging the value of the neoliberal ideology that permeates regionalism discourse. The book asks what value neoliberal regionalism holds for the Caribbean, when its economic goals of efficiency and competitiveness serve to actively marginalize small states within the global community. Presenting an alternative framework for assessing success, the book investigates how the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) can confront new challenges and perform a more developmental function, centring economic transformation and a more democratic process. The book also explores long-standing challenges with implementing regional decisions at the national level and the absence of avenues for citizens to influence the direction of the integration movement. It explores these themes against the backdrop of the global pandemic and the climate crisis which underscore the fragility of Caribbean economies, their high levels of indebtedness, weak social security systems, and their marginality. Bringing together decades of research from one of the world’s foremost scholars on the subject, this book will be essential reading for researchers of the Caribbean specifically, and for those with an interest in regionalism more generally, across the fields of political economy, international relations, history, geography, economics, and global development.

There are a variety of crisis symptoms confronting the Commonwealth Caribbean as the 21st century dawns. Global changes are quickly rendering the region's traditional economic platform obsolete. This book suggests however that the expanding NAFTA or the hemispheric turn towards bloc formation can offer a way out for the Caribbean. Politics must be brought back into the regionalisation process, for each island government is witnessing the narrowing of the range of its state power by powerful TNCs, international financial institutions, Washington interests, and corporate-backed WTO commissions.