Sub-Regional Governance: The OECS Experience

• Author: K. Dwight Venner
• Pages: 527-534

Sub-Regional Governance527

The countries of the OECS are now at the crossroad of their political and

economic history as they grapple with fundamental developments in the

domestic, regional and international environments.

The complex changes which are taking place in the structure of the

international economy that are a result of major technological and institutional

developments and the vulnerabilities felt by critical sectors within developed

and developing countries have set the stage for a substantial reordering of the

international system.

This reordering will have a significant impact on all the states in the

international system and in particular the small and the vulnerable.

In order to successfully come to grips with these circumstances the role of

the state and of institutions and groups within the geographic confines of nations

and regions will have to be substantially redefined.

The concept of governance in its various manifestations will have to be

appropriately fashioned to allow nations and regions to respond strategically to

these new and complex circumstances.

The OECS countries recognised this need under different circumstances

two decades ago when faced with the necessity to confront the fact of their

existence in a fluid regional and international environment with very limited

resources. The result of their contemplation and reflection was the Treaty of

Basseterre 1981 which brought into being the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean

States.

The preamble to the Treaty is very revealing of the sentiments and

circumstances of the political leaders and their countries at that time. They

affirmed their determination to achieve economic and social development for

their peoples as enunciated in the Agreement establishing the East Caribbean

Common Market. A critical assertion was that they were inspired by a common

determination to strengthen the links between themselves by uniting their

efforts and resources and establishing and strengthening common institutions

Sub-RegIOnAl gOveRnAnCe:

The OeCS expeRIenCe

K. DWIGHT VENNER

CHAPTER TWENTY - EIGHT