CARICOM, the Myth of Sovereignty, and Aspirational Economic Integration

The focus of this article is the Caribbean Community (hereinafter CARICOM or the Community), the group of Caribbean states whose membership has expanded from the exclusive core of English-speaking Caribbean countries to now include Suriname and Haiti. Some years following the failure of the West Indian Federation, the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) was born from the vision of pioneering Caribbean leaders of newly-independent English-speaking Caribbean islands. Its successor, CARICOM, was to take the lead in pooling the strengths of the English-speaking states to foster their economic development. Unfortunately, CARICOM has yet to live up to its economic integration goals. My inquiry will assess why, three decades after its inception, the organization has not been more successful in emulating the success of the European Union, a paradigm of successful regional economic integration, and has not achieved the integration of economies that is one of its stated central purposes.'" Specifically, I will explore the role of "sovereignty" as an obstacle to economic integration and address the impact of the Member States' conceptions of sovereignty on those goals