The Challenges to Multilateralism: A Role for the Small States of CARICOM

• Author: Christopher Hackett
• Pages: 299-307

The Challenges to Mulilateralism 299

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago I was a student at Mona and although, unlike many

of the others, I have spent a long period of time living outside the region, I

have nevertheless followed closely the developments that have taken place

in the region over the last 30 years. I would therefore like to use my

experience working in the international arena to make the linkage between

multilateralism and the CARICOM countries; hence the focus of my paper

on ‘Challenges to Mulitlateralism: A role for the small states of CARICOM’.

UNDP has supported CARICOM from its infancy, and we will continue to do

so in areas that are critical for the development of the region.

The focus of the Conference on Regional Governance and Integrated

Development is particularly timely in view of the contemporary

international and political environment and events, which threaten to

erode the principles of multilateralism.

In this section of the Conference that deals with the Community and

the International System, I will seek to examine some of the challenges and

threats to multilateralism, including their implications for the CARICOM

region, argue for the return to an effectively functioning multilateral

system, and explore some of the possible strategies for doing so. I will conclude

the paper by identifying a possible role for CARICOM countries within an

effectively functioning multilateral system.

The threats to multilateralism can be found in both the political and

economic arenas, and they are based on a fundamental imbalance than

can be found in the world today. On the political side of the spectrum, three

of the greatest threats to multilateralism are terrorism and conflict,

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and a slide into unilateral action

based on a principle of preemptive strike. This scenario is creating for the

United Nations, the premier multilateral organization in the global political

arena, its most serious challenge in promoting and maintaining a stable

global order.

THE CHALLENGES TOTHE CHALLENGES TO

THE CHALLENGES TOTHE CHALLENGES TO

THE CHALLENGES TO

MULTILATERALISM: A ROLE FORMULTILATERALISM: A ROLE FOR

MULTILATERALISM: A ROLE FORMULTILATERALISM: A ROLE FOR

MULTILATERALISM: A ROLE FOR

THE SMALL STATES OF CARICOMTHE SMALL STATES OF CARICOM

THE SMALL STATES OF CARICOMTHE SMALL STATES OF CARICOM

THE SMALL STATES OF CARICOM

Christopher Hackett

2626

2626

26