Thursday, February 11, 2010

Caribbean Studies essay

Topic:Discuss the view that a major challenge to the integration movement in the Caribbean is the wide disparity in levels of development among member countries of CARICOM.

The countries in the Caribbean differ in many ways, political, economical and social because of their history. No country has exactly the same history which accounts for the differences in development today. CARICOM’s ideals include political, economical and social integration among its members. However, it is difficult to integrate because the less developed countries have to give up their preferential trade agreements which are a large part of their revenue and the more developed countries have to shoulder much of the budget for CARICOM. Also, one of the policies included in CARICOM is free movement of labour and the more developed countries fear mass migration into their countries.

One of the key tenets of CARICOM is the CSME (Caribbean Single Market and Economy). The CSME is to ensure economic integration among the members of CARICOM. However, if there is to be economic integration, there must be economic independence. Countries cannot depend on preferential trade agreements if they want economic integration. Be that as it may, the less developed countries like Grenada and Dominica may not want to lose their preferential trade agreements with the UK and the US because they bring in a lot of revenue.

While, preferential trade agreements for agricultural products bring in revenue, it does not bring in as much revenue as natural resources such as oil, natural gas and bauxite. Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica have natural resources which can be exported to the world. Natural resources are goods that are much in demand and bring in more revenue than agricultural products. Therefore, countries with natural resources will be more developed as there is more money for structural building in the country. In CARICOM, these countries will fund the larger part of its budget and will therefore expect a greater share in decision making. This will cause tension between them and the less developed islands who may feel that they are imposing their will on them thereby inhibiting regional integration.

If free movement of labour is allowed, people will move to the more successful areas. In the past, people moved from rural areas to urban areas. In CARICOM, movement of people from less developed countries to more developed countries can be expected. The more developed countries will have a problem with this because it will mean an influx of people using up the resources meant for the citizens of the country. More developed countries would then place restrictions on immigrants coming into the country which defeats the purpose of having free movement of labour.

The integration movement in the Caribbean is fraught with challenges. These challenges can be attributed to the differences in development among the countries in the region.

1 comment:

  1. This essay has some good points, however, a greater link needs to be established with the integration movement. Both sides of the argument has to be considered and then a conclusion made.

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