Shared Sovereignty and Regional Governance Policy
| Author | Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts |
| Profession | Research Fellow of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) University of the West Indies Mona |
| Pages | 146-178 |
7
Shared Sovereignty and
Regional Governance Policy
The milestone celebration of CARICOM’s thirtieth Anniversary,
held in 2003 under the theme ‘Integration: Our Key to Prosperity’, was
tempered by the worrying levels of institutional dysfunctionality which
and institutional framework. That context stimulated a process of re-
evaluation of the relationship between state sovereignty and regional
integration in pursuit of innovative modalities of ‘regional governance’,
a six-year period between 2003 and 2009, an agenda for governance
reform emerged as the focal point of the discourse on Caribbean
regionalism. That policy agenda is analysed here as an introduction
to a complementary discussion in chapter 8 of a second generation
of change during the same period. This chapter, therefore, examines
the evolution of new interpretations of sovereignty, beginning with the
and academic contributions to the regionalism discourse. It further
explains how the concept guided the process of setting an agenda for
reform, through the formulation of further ‘expert’ recommendations
for a more effective policy and institutional framework for CARICOM.
The chapter concludes with a brief commentary on the potential for
implementation of a new policy on regional governance reform.
Introducing ‘Regional Governance’ Three Decades
Later
After the introduction of the concept of ‘regional governance’ in the
2002 Archer-Gomes report, a debate was formally introduced within the
Caribbean regionalism discourse via three principal channels. Firstly, a
series of seven distinguished lectures presented the goal of advancing
a civilization of Caribbean people as the ideological basis for regional
governance. Secondly, various members of the academic community
Shared Sovereignty and Regional Governance Policy 147
process of institutional advancement and the achievement of development
goals. Thirdly, a consultation between CARICOM governments and regional
social partners discussed the future direction of CARICOM governance. The
of the sovereignty-regionalism nexus, inherent in the emerging concept of
‘regional governance’, are reviewed in this section.
The thirtieth anniversary lecture, delivered in February 2003 by Ralph
Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Chairman
of the OECS, set the framework for the entire reinterpretation exercise.
Gonsalves used the opportunity to urge the adoption of his previously
highlighted concept of ‘Caribbean Civilisation’ as the ideological framework
establishment of political, rather than merely economic or functional,
institutions to sustain it:
It makes little sense for us to…dump into CARICOM and the OECS
Secretariats a host of additional functional cooperation tasks without
the means or the political superstructure to match. Integration has
never been, and will never be, a series of technical functions. It is a
profoundly political exercise. It is escapism and irresponsibility not
to so acknowledge this in practice. It is for this reason basically,
[that] the CSME and other regional initiatives or mechanisms are
faltering.1
However, his remarks also implied an appreciation of the fact that a
full re-engagement with the politics of regionalism demanded sovereignty
concessions in relation to state authority and control. In that regard,
he argued that, although the majority of his fellow colleague Heads of
Government were committed regionalists, they were in fact imprisoned
by the ‘ghosts of the past’ (which may very well be interpreted as a
reference to the Federal legacy) and by electoral imperatives which drew
territorial nationalism instead. Gonsalves therefore proposed the adoption
and Tobago and the members of the OECS, which were prepared to make
greater concessions, could consider moving towards deeper models of
political integration, while still maintaining economic and functional
relationships with other CARICOM states.2
The Politics of Integration
148
Gonsalves’ proposal for a new political and ideological foundation
for integration resonated with the other six distinguished lecturers who
emphasised the roles of a new generation of political institutions in
advancing the cultural and human developmental aspects of a Caribbean
civilisation. Compton Bourne suggested that institutions extend beyond
the functional, economic and foreign policy objectives of the Community
to embrace the preservation of regional kinship and unity. In a similar
vein, the then University of the West Indies (UWI) Vice-Chancellor, Rex
Nettleford, and Jamaica’s Minister of Education, Youth and Culture,
Maxine Henry-Wilson, argued that regional institutions should promote
the bonds of that unity – the region’s culture and human resources.
As another lecturer, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of the UWI St
Augustine Campus, Bhoendradatt Tewarie, argued, it was only in such
a context, that CARICOM states would be able to achieve international
competitiveness.3 Those ideas certainly recall the advocacies of the New
World Group members, particularly William Demas and Lloyd Best, in
relation to the education and empowerment of the Caribbean citizen.4 The
lectures also outlined a role for integrative institutions in encouraging
participatory governance at the national level while also fostering coherence
among governance mechanisms at the regional level.5
P.J. Patterson to members of the Caribbean Diaspora in New York in
October 2003, which best consolidated the themes of the entire lecture
series. In his presentation, entitled ‘Towards the Further Enhancement of
borders in relation to the emerging transnational space for development.
physical boundaries of our regional homelands. The living boundaries of
CARICOM are to be found wherever CARICOM nationals or their progeny
reside and work’.6
a subtle politico-intellectual shift in thinking about the parameters for
development. In fact, his observations seemed to challenge the relevance
of holding unswervingly to Westphalian notions of sovereignty within a
context of globalised development. Conceivably, hidden within his remarks
was an understanding that, since the raison d’être of the CARICOM Single
market and Economy (CSME) was based on processes of globalisation and
regionalisation which encouraged intra and extra-regional migration of
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