West Indies Federation

After the Second World War British parties agreed on bringing colonies to independence as

quickly as possible by linking separate territories in a federal union. Ten Caribbean territories in

the British Commonwealth volunteered to form a union of free equal partners and by January

1958 the West Indies Federation was formed. The governments that came together to form the

federation were Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, Antigua, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Montserrat,

Grenada, Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

The motivation for a federation was largely financially based due to the fact that “the Caribbean

islands were an increasing financial burden to the United Kingdom”(Lusaka, 1963:05) and

hence, Britain proposed and supported the way in which ten territories would be fashioned into

one politically and economically viable union able to act as a sovereign state. The federation was

a way through which Caribbean countries could:

 Gain maximum bargaining power internationally.

 Pool the resources of the different islands.

 Remove the barriers to trade among the islands.

 Facilitate the free movement of people and goods.

The move towards the Federation was not solely pushed by the British; there was also a West

Indian desire for Federation. This desire at first was confined to the southern Caribbean, however

the growth of West Indian nationalism and the advantages to be had through Federation led to a

spread in the desire for the Federation. “The smaller islands hoped to attain and sustain advances

in economic, social and political fields (Lusaka, 1963:11). Which could be achieved through the

Federation that promised a customs union, free movement and economic development through
functional cooperation. “To larger units of Jamaica and Trinidad, federation would turn the

smaller units into markets for their products” (Lusaka, 1963:13). Despite the desire for,

culminating with the fact that there was also a need for the Federation, the fact remains that as

the first complete move for regional integration there were several problems that led to its

demise.

Demise of the Federation

Geographical difficulties contributed significantly to the failure of the Federation. The

membership of the Federation were Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, the Windward Islands

(Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) and the Leeward Islands( Antigua and

Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla and Montserrat). “Jamaica lies more than one thousand two

hundred miles from Trinidad, which in turn is about six hundred miles from the smaller islands

in the Eastern Caribbean”(Lusaka, 1963:14). The islands in the eastern Caribbean are even more

scattered. The distance among members of the federation represents a physical fragmentation

that in some ways facilitated a political fragmentation. So trying to combine these scattered

communities posed a major challenge, given the need for transportation and communication for

the functioning of the federation. In addition to this, the Eastern Caribbean established ties with

Trinidad from the colonial period, but little existed with these groups and Jamaica. Professor

Stephen Vasciannie notes that this “meant that there was little contact between individuals from

Jamaica in the north and counterparts from other Caribbean territories”(Vasciannie, 2016:227).

Another reason that led to the collapse of the Federation was the unsatisfactory location of the

Federal capital. Grenada was originally selected by West Indian leaders in 1953, but the United

Kingdom’s Federal Capital Commission selected Barbados in 1956. Barbados was rejected

because its small size wouldn’t accommodate the Federal Government civil servants. Trinidad
was ultimately chosen as the site but as Professor Vasciannie highlights that because of this

“Jamaica carried a sense of grievance”. After all how could the

“territory with the largest population, arguably the strongest economic prospect, a highly

recognized regionalist leader in the name of Norman Manley, and notable nationalist

commitment was far removed from the other units of the Federation, and provided neither its

capital site nor its Prime Minister”(Vasciannie, 2016:232)

Features such as this lead to Jamaica withdrawing from the Federation and it ultimately saw

Trinidad and Tobago following the similar path with Eric Williams famous phrase “Ten minus

one equals zero”, referring to Jamaica’s departure.

CARIFTA

Although the collapse of the West Indies Federation left a bad taste in the mouths of many

Caribbean nationals and an overall feeling that meant that the idea of regionalism was not at the

top of the agenda for most Caribbean countries, there was still, from a functional perspective, the

necessity for cooperation specifically from an economic standpoint. This need for functional

economic cooperation saw the rebuilding of the regional community in the form of the Caribbean

Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) in 1968. CARIFTA’s objectives were

“establishing a measure of free trade in the region; creating the regional institutions necessary to

facilitate subsequent deeper economic integration; and undertaking the delicate negotiation

surrounding the creation of a regional development fund which eventually emerged in the shape

of the Caribbean Development Bank(CDB)” (Bishop& Payne, 2010:06)

Despite the establishment of CARIFTA and the move to deepen integration through this avenue.

It was severely impeded because there was a failure to reach an agreement with the European

Economic Community (EEC) now known as the European Union (EU) regarding the regions

trading links with Britain who would soon become a member. In simpler words Britain’s

application to the EEC weakened the ability of CARIFTA because of how trade rules would be

changed, and not necessarily benefitting Caribbean states.

CARICOM

Despite this problem the election of Michael Manley in 1972 to the office of Prime Minister in

Jamaica reinvigorated the integration movement. Manley was a supporter of the integration

movement, which ultimately lead to a shift in Jamaican attitude towards integration. This

“further paved the way for the adoption of many of the substantive measures which had bogged

own intra-regional negotiation”(Bishop & Payne, 2010:06). This thrust ultimately culminated in

what can be considered as the most productive intergovernmental conference in the history of

Caribbean integration that was held at Chaguaramas in Trinidad, which saw the establishment of

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

By July 4, 1973 CARICOM came into being with the signing of the treaty of Chaguaramas. This

treaty was revised in 2002 to deepen integration and establish a single market and a single

economy. CARICOM rest on four pillars:

1. Economic Integration

2. Foreign Policy coordination

3. Human and Social Development

4. Security
They are fifteen member states of CARICOM and five associate members. In accordance with

the pillars CARICOM seeks to achieve “improved standards of living, full employment, trade

expansion, improved productivity and greater foreign policy coordination”(Vasciannie,

2016:233). Over its 46 year existence CARICOM has achieved numerous things that are directly

as a result of the number of states and the organizations, institutions and bodies that CARICOM

has set up. The most notable ones include:

 Caribbean Agriculture Research & Development Institute (CARDI)

 Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)

 Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)

 Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)

 University of the West Indies (UWI)

As aforementioned CARICOM has four pillars, one being economic integration. At the heart of

this pillar is the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). The CSME is an “enlarged

market which offers: more and better opportunities to produce and sell goods and services and to

attract investment; greater economies of scale; increased competitiveness full employment and

improved standards of living for the Caribbean Community”(CARICOM , 2016). In other words

the CSME allows for goods, people, capital and services to move throughout the region across

all member states without tariffs or restriction, in a bid to have a single economic space. Further

to this, the CSME creates a harmonizing of economic, monetary and fiscal policies in all member

states.

The rationale behind the CSME is that it provides more economic and political strength, given

that the CSME offers a better chance of economic survival, than they would have negotiating
with mega blocs and superpowers by themselves. The CSME would also facilitate an

improvement in services provided and more competitive product of a better quality and prices.

Despite the great level of achievements CARICOM has made for the Caribbean region, the fact

remains that they are several issues that plague the organization. Professor Stephen Vasciannie

points out that CARICOM is not a political union and lacks several features that would make it

operate as such. Instead he point out the CARICOM is more so a representation of economic

integration. From an economic perspective CARICOM has many challenges which include

 Market Structure: Most CARICOM members have small markets for their goods, service

and they have limited production. To address this resources would need to be pooled

together, which would collectively make them a larger market. However this is

problematic when most parties produce similar products and there is a major difference in

features of production that result in lower production cost. Meaning that production

mechanism are more advanced in some countries, which will ultimately mean that there

will be a difference in prices of products. This can lead to more importation of similar

products that are locally made or grown.

 Labour Issues: CARICOM represents an economic bloc that facilitates employment of

CARICOM nationals among other things. In other words a Jamaican should have

employment opportunities available in other CARICOM countries. However all member

states have different levels of employment, stemming from the economic prowess that the

country may have. This is problematic because it can lead to significant migration shift at

the expense of your own country national.

 Free movement: Probably the most publicized or easily identifiable problem of

CARICOM is that of free movement. There have been several cases in which Jamaicans
have been denied entry into countries such as Barbados and Trinidad, most notably the

Shanique Myrie v Barbados case. Issues such as this place a negative light on the

Caribbean from citizens within the region.

 Reference

Bishop, M. L., & Payne, A. (2010, February). Caribbean Regional Governance & the

Sovereignty/ Statehood Problem. The Caribbean Papers. Retrieved from

https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/caribbean_paper_8_0.pdf

Lusaka, P. F. (n.d.). The Dissolution of the West Indies Federation: A Study in Political

Geography (Master's thesis)

Vasciannie, S. (2016). Arguments and Facts: Caribbean Public Law, Governance, Economy and

Society. Kingston: New Caribbean Publishers.