Abstract Three 2000

GLOBAL

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

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Volume Two Winter 1999-Spring 2000 Numbers 1-2.

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THEME: CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES: ISSUES AND OPTIONS

THE COMMONWEALTH CARIBBEAN: IN PURSUIT OF SELF-RELIANT DEVELOPMENT THROUGH

INTERDEPENDENCE

Maqsood-uddin Kadir

Department of African American Studies

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

City University of New York

Published Online: December 15, 2016

ABSTRACT

This article examines how the Caribbean Common Market through a deepening of the integration process and a collaborative strategy of interdependence among the nations in the region can promote development. To this end, the article advocates the creation of a framework of incentive systems and institutions designed to capitalize on the advantages of the Caribbean economies and on private sector initiatives. Additionally, it promotes a drastic overhaul of the budgetary process in each nation as well as full Central Bank autonomy, in addition to the rescheduling of debts to creditors. While it concedes that the region's ability to attract foreign investments is unacceptably low, especially in a global economy enjoying considerable growth, the article recognizes that the region must curtail its dependence on a monoculture of production and eliminate the policy of protectionism for goods and services created in the region. The article concludes by asserting that the region must take advantage of the efforts made by the United States and other major trading partners in the hemisphere to promote self-reliance while remaining globally competitive.