Reflections on the future of the Caribbean Community through the mirror of functional co-operation

ABSTRACT

This article attempts to establish a mirror image of reflections on functional co-operation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Caribbean Community and offers projections for a mature and viable Caribbean Community. Its reflections focus mainly on the history of functional co-operation, established in the founding Treaty of CARICOM in 1973, and an understanding of its foundational elements and practices analogous to tentacles connecting all aspects of the CARICOM regional movement. It justifies its approach by establishing that we see reflections in the mirror of our recollections. In this case, they are based on the perspectives of thought leaders and the findings of relevant research, the major point of departure of which is the Report of the CARICOM Task Force on Functional Co-operation. The recommendations of the Task Force were converted into a Declaration by the 28th Conference of the CARICOM Heads of Government in Barbados in 2007. They set the parameters of this contribution interpreted as ‘mirrors of reflection’ on the prospects of a golden era and priorities for sustainability of the Community. These elements include the people-centred approaches towards achieving the mission of integration proposed by the Caribbean Commission on the Economy. They also include investing in human capital, health and development, crime, security, and public health as the heart of functional co-operation. It is important to note that functional co-operation is an underlying component of a cohesive, coherent, and coordinated regional foreign policy and a broader arc of diplomacy that compounds the contradictions and challenges the Community faces. These challenges may, argues the author, be overcome by implementing the fundamentals for attaining the mission of a ‘Community for all’.

KEYWORDS:

• Activists
• Caribbean Community
• challenges
• contradictions
• institutions
• integration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.