(ii) REGIONAL INTEGRATION

1. explain and use correctly concepts and terms associated with regional integration;

Explanation of the following terms and concepts related to regional integration:

bilateral agreement, multilateral agreement, common market, single market, single economy, economic
integration, independent state, underdeveloped country, developing country, developed country, trade
liberalisation, globalisation, multinational corporation, regionalism, trading bloc, fiscal policy, monetary
policy.

Regional integration involves the unification of a number of nation states into a larger whole. The degree
to which the separate states are willing to share and unify indicates the degree of integration.

Bilateral Agreement - An agreement between two groups, countries or nations

Multilateral agreement - Agreement among many groups, countries or nations.

Common Market - An economic unit, formed of nations, intended to eliminate or markedly reduce trade
barriers among its members

Single market - A group of countries that have few or no restrictions on the movement of goods, money
and people between the members of the group

Free trade Area - an arrangement whereby a group of countries agrees to remove the tariff and non-
tariff barriers to trade among them.

Economic integration - the process by which the economies of a group of countries are drawn more
closely together so that the group as well as the individual countries becomes stronger or more
developed.

Independent State - self-government of a county, nation or state by its residents and population

Underdeveloped country - a relatively poor country with little or no material wellbeing.

Developing country - a country that has not yet reached the stage of economic growth to stand on its
own for further growth.

Intra-Regional Trade - countries in the region buying locally produced goods from or selling locally
produced goods to, other countries in the region.

Developed country - a country that has high level of development and high gross domestic product
(GDP) per capita.

Trade Liberalization - the movement towards the removal of trade barriers among the members of the
World Trade Organization (WTO)

Globalization - the process by which countries all over the world are becoming connected or similar
because large companies are doing business in many different countries.
Multinational Corporation - Sometimes called transnational corporation is a corporation or enterprise
that manages production and delivers services in more than one country.

Regionalism is where organization and consolidation of regional economic and political integration
groups, leading to the development of a shared economic and/political spaces in a particular
geographical zone.

Trading Bloc - made up of a large number of countries, with the same political and economic aims, linked
by special trading arrangements among them.

Fiscal Policy - the use of government spending and revenue collection to influence economy.

Monetary Policy - the process a government, central bank or monetary authority of a country uses to
control the supply of money, availability of money and cost of money or rate of interest to attain a set of
objectives oriented towards the growth of the economy.

Regional integration

The Caribbean Region is a diverse one.

The Caribbean The Caribbean is a region that consists of the Caribbean Sea, many islands, and the
surrounding coasts. It can be described as the area that saw the impact of European colonization,
slavery, indentureship and the planation system. The Caribbean is divided into two (2) sub- regions.
There are insular Caribbean and Continental Caribbean as shown in the diagram below.

Characteristics of the Caribbean Region

The insular Caribbean comprises 700 islands of which 32 are inhabited.

Their size ranges from 40,852 square miles for Cuba all the way down to 5 square miles for Saba.
Within the continental Caribbean, Guyana is the largest country with an area size of 83000 Square miles.

English, Spanish, French are spoken by the various countries.

While many of the Caribbean Countries gained independence a few such as Montserrat and Anguilla are
still dependent.

Their system of government vary from constitutional monarchy to Republican.

Caribbean countries are all developing countries however, disparity exist as Caribbean Countries are at
different stages of economic development. Countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas are
more developed then countries such as Guyana, St Lucia etc.

Regional integration involves the unification of a number of nation states into a larger whole. The degree
to which the separate states are willing to share and unify indicates the degree of integration.

Caribbean countries decided to be unified so as to:

Globalization

Globalization is the process by which countries are becoming connected because large companies are
doing business in many different countries.

Or

Globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence
or start operating on an international scale.

Benefits and disadvantages of globalization and trade liberalization

ADVANTAGES

- Free movement of capital and Labour across the world encourages investment in poorer countries.

- Global links via the internet have opened international markets for businesses.

- Technology transfer have helps developing countries to fast track their industries to catch up with
those in richer countries.

- Easy access to goods should raise the standard of living.

DISADVANTAGES

- Freer markets mean that the government have less control over trade and over the multinational
companies involved in it.

- Richer countries have an advantage over poorer ones in terms of trade, and their greater resources for
investment and subsidy.

- Globalization offers opportunities for organized criminals as well as legitimate businesses.

- There is a risk of harmful acculturation, as a result of which local cultures lose their distinctiveness, due
to the influence of media.
- Small developing country may become a dumping ground for unwanted products from wealthy
countries.

- Outsourcing of labour by developing countries may involve employing workers in developing countries
on very low wages, in poor working conditions and with little job satisfaction.