Conclusion

• Author: Peter Clegg and Emilio Pantojas-García
• Pages: 269-276

269

- CONCLUSION -

Conclusion

The challenges and opportunities facing the non-independent territories

in the Caribbean at the beginning of the twenty-first century are varied and

numerous. This volume has provided an assessment of three issues that are

particularly important for the non-independent Caribbean today: the

effectiveness and fairness of governance arrangements in place between the

territories and their metropolitan centres; the economic position of the

territories and the possibilities for future development, and the patterns of

migration and settlement between the territories and each metropole.

Although each group of territories – the UK Caribbean Overseas Territories;

the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba; Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands;

and Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyane – have quite specific

arrangements in place, there are common ideas, themes and problems that

affect them all. In response there is both continuity and some measured

change.

In regard to the effectiveness and fairness of governance in the non-

independent territories, there is concerted action to improve the arrangements

in place. The UK Caribbean Overseas Territories (COTs), under the

prompting of the British government, are reviewing their constitutions to

introduce more ‘local’ executive action and accountability, but at the same

time being obliged by the UK to incorporate various measures to ensure

‘good governance’ at local and ‘international’ levels. As Peter Clegg argues in

chapter one the key development within this context was the publication in

1999 of a white paper entitled Partnership for Progress and Prosperity, which

set out recommendations on a range of issues, such as the constitutional

link, financial standards, good governance and human rights. Some resultant

changes, such as the decriminalisation of consensual private homosexual acts

between adults made in 2001, led to significant tensions between the COTs

and the UK government. Despite such controversies the territories’

constitutional link with the UK retains its popularity, in particular because

it helps to preserve stability in the territories. This is also the case for UK

OTs outside of the Caribbean, including the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.

PETER CLEGG AND EMILIO P ANTOJAS-GARCÍA1