Wide Disparity in Development Levels

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.

Development can be defined as the process of improving the quality of life. It implies sustainability, self-sufficiency and independence. One can consider that levels of development affects how far integration has been achieved in the Caribbean Region, that is, amongst CARICOM members. There have been many attempts at integration in the Caribbean since the pre-independence era with the West Indian Federation of 1958 which fell apart in 1962. Nevertheless, in the post-independence era, the Caribbean has experienced success in integration at a regional level since the initiation of the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA) back in 1968. Regional integration can be described as a process which countries enter into an agreement in order to enhance cooperation in the region. It has been argued that the countries of the Caribbean are at different levels of development even with the evident integration movement among these islands. This can be seen in the gaps displayed through the politics, economics and social policies in terms of regional institutions.

In the initial stages, the focus was on political union amongst member countries. Subsequent to the British leaving, the Caribbean region tried to find a way to remain sustainable. Their first attempt was the West Indian Federation. Politics of the embryonic Federation were racked by struggles between them and the provincial government as well as between the two largest and smaller provinces. Trinidad had already discovered its natural resources - oil and gas. As a result, they had more money and it was felt that larger countries should give the most. In totality, Trinidad and Jamaica had been contributing up to 85% of federal revenues in approximately equal shares. Conversely, in Jamaica, there was and still is little social mobility – urban and rural conflicts. Jamaica thus, began looking at their internal circumstances and decided that it was best that they left. In light of their perspectives, various member countries began reviewing their own internal circumstances. It was recognized that if complete movement of the Federation was allowed, smaller countries feared mass migration to other countries like Trinidad and Jamaica. Issues such as who would be the leader and how the shares were to be distributed rose. That created a political fuse between the influential leaders and eventually the two (2) most important provinces did not see the Federation as viable. In due time, the Federation collapsed due to internal political conflict and with the eventual evolvement of CARIFTA, currently called CARICOM, the focus was shifted to the promotion of economic integration.

Integration in the region is needed to boost economic growth of the member states however, as a result of the disparity in development levels in the region, equality in growth and development is hindered. The formation of the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM) in 1973 led to the free movement of certain factors of production across the region’s borders. This allowed labour, capital and entrepreneurship to move freely within the region. Nevertheless, the more developed countries (MDCs) fear mass migration from inhabitants of the less developed countries who are seeking better education and employment opportunities in order to increase their standard of living. There is also the fear of regional brain drain. In the case of Bahamas, whose economy is sustained by tourism, has a high level of development represented by a 0.856 HDI (human development index) and as a result has not signed on to the CSME which is hindering the development of the Caribbean as an economic bloc. In relation to Haiti, on the other hand, the recent devastation in January 2010 can lead to mass migration of the population via illegal immigration into the MDCs in the region. Nonetheless, for the Cricket World Cup in 2007 in the Caribbean, political leaders made the decision to allow hassle-free movement amongst CARICOM states which in turn, led to the promotion of the development of sports tourism in the region as well as the injection of foreign revenue in the Caribbean economy. Furthermore, regional institutions have also sought to deepen economic ties.

Several regional institutions have been established in the Caribbean over the years. For instance, in education, the University of the West Indies which has been in existence since 1948 has contributed to the educational development of the region’s population so as to increase the skills, innovation and entrepreneurship of the region. However, in order to fulfil the needs of the changing technological age, the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) in Trinidad and in Jamaica, the University of Technology (UTEC) has been founded. In this way, the separate governments are able to have direct political control and satisfy the needs of the individual countries in order to achieve growth but hinder regional growth in the Caribbean. In the sports arena, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has unified several islands such as Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and the Leeward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago under the umbrella of cricket. Despite the gaps in development, the Caribbean has produced a number of brilliant players such as Sir Gary Sobers (Barbados), Sir Vivian Richards (Antigua) and Brian Lara (Trinidad and Tobago). The WICB has focused on advancing the sport in various territories so as to bridge the gap among the islands in the sport of cricket. Also, investment in the tourism sector within the Caribbean is also a major revenue-earner for the region, hence, the creation of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) in 1989 which focuses on the development of sustainable tourism for the economic and social benefit of the West Indies. Although the territories of the Bahamas, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and Jamaica has a well-developed tourism sector, the CTO must further assist the rest of the Caribbean to properly and engagingly establish their tourism sector which will lead to increasing tourist arrivals and as a result, increasing foreign revenue. In this way, foreign revenue earned by the tourism sector can be ploughed back into the economy to lead to further growth and development in the Caribbean.

In agreement with Readings In Caribbean Studies, ‘At a time when the rest of the world is realising the importance of economic integration for purposes of development, it may be necessary for Caribbean populations to become more aware of the challenges of the world’s financial markets to their own development.’ Hence, it is crucial that it is recognized that regional integration is critically central to our evolution and future development. Thus, based on evidence provided on political, economic and social factors, it can be deduced that the disparity in levels of development among member countries in CARICOM have contributed to major challenges in the integration movement especially with the further hindrance created by the delayed signing of the CSME. Perhaps the real question is how feasible were the reasons for withdrawal or disagreement based on developmental status of individual member countries.

By Khadine and Sue-Ann