Looking at the disunity of the Caribbean region, I could not help but wonder whether the cultures of the inhabitants of the area have anything to do with the problem. Just as there are many different communities in the region, so are the diverse cultures. To aggravate the problem, the people in the Caribbean are not ready to accept change. They seem to value what they term as their sovereignty. As each group seeks to keep its sovereignty, it so happens that there is no room for unity. The situation is so bad that even in some unified countries there are still differences. There are also the developmental problems. This implies that the people have refused to accept change and adopt the new ways of doing things. Rather than accept the new developments and live just as the other peoples of the world, the people in this region decide to stick to their past ways. This brings about closely knit but isolated communities. As such, this week’s reading has widened my understanding as to why there is disunity in the Caribbean.
Original Post
A matter that is of great interest is the inability of the Caribbean people to unite as one and foster the way forward as a united people. One of the factors that really strike me is the reason as to why the politics in this region does not allow for a unified state. Will (2009) looks into the politics and posits an argument that updates my understanding. That is the existence of politics of disintegration in the region. This implies that the political structures of the different regions do not allow the people to have a cohesive system or one in which the people live in perfect unity. These politics of disintegration are propagated by some “cultural and developmental problems.”
Will argues that the politics of division have a negative impact on the political unity of the Caribbean. How can these issues be addressed so that the people get united but still feel that they have not lost their sense of identity?
This posting emphasizes on the fact that though the Caribbean countries have various similarities, they also have factors which make them hard to integrate. The question here is about the internal divisions and the external pressures that lead to the disintegration. To this effect, it could be argued that the internal divisions are based on the fact that there are a lot of groups in this region, all of which have different cultures. If these people are brought together in an attempt to make them united, the cultural differences and the different beliefs make it hard for them to live together in perfect unity. On the external pressures, it so happens that the people are at times required to try and acclimatize to the issues of globalization, new world cultures and ways of doing things. They try to resist the change, and this isolates them even the more. They are simply resistant to change.
This posting is based on the efforts being made to bring about integration in the area. The argument rotates about the assertion that “The goal of foreign policy harmonization holds the greatest integrative potential.” This is to mean that the different states in the Caribbean should seek to have harmony right from the policy level. The policies should be formulated in such a manner that the people are encouraged to get out of their cocoons and embrace globalization. Only then could the nations be open to interacting with people from other nations in the region and eventually lead to regional integration.
References
Will, M. (2009). A Nation Divided: The Quest for Caribbean Integration. Latin American Research Review, Vol. 26(2), pp. 3-37. (Attached).
