Description

Integration has appealed to the islands of the Caribbean as a means of overcoming some of the inherent difficulties of small size and economic, political, linguistic and geographical fragmentation. One of the persistent problems facing integration, however, is the pronounced differences in levels of development in economic and political structures of the countries in the region and the inability of integration mechanisms to satisfy the needs at both ends of the scale. This problem is a permanent source of dissatisfaction for those countries which have not obtained the expected benefits.

Integration has appealed to the islands of the Caribbean as a means of overcoming some of the inherent difficulties of small size and economic, political, linguistic and geographical fragmentation. One of the persistent problems facing integration, however, is the pronounced differences in levels of development in economic and political structures of the countries in the region and the inability of integration mechanisms to satisfy the needs at both ends of the scale. This problem is a permanent source of dissatisfaction for those countries which have not obtained the expected benefits.