Island Lecture Series – March 2018 – “Overcoming ‘Small Size’ in the Caribbean: The Role of CARICOM” with Dr. Nand C. Bardouille
Overcoming “Small Size” in the Caribbean: The Role of CARICOM
with Dr. Nand C. Bardouille
Tuesday, March 20, 2018 | 7 p.m. | Main Building Faculty Lounge
The March 2018 Island Studies Lecture took place on Tuesday, March 20, at 7 p.m. in the SDU Main Building Faculty Lounge on the UPEI campus, featuring Dr. Nand C. Bardouille speaking about the important role of regional integration in positioning Caribbean island states to overcome the disadvantages associated with “small size.”
“Either we integrate or we perish…” For forty-plus years, this famous aphorism has given impetus to a grouping of mainly small island states in the Caribbean Basin that is endeavouring to advance regional integration. This lecture addressed the question: What role does the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which is one of the oldest regional integration projects in the developing world, play in positioning its members to overcome their “small size” in the international system? CARICOM is a grouping of fifteen member states and five associate members, which span the archipelagic state of The Bahamas in the northern part of the Caribbean Basin to the low-lying coastal states of Suriname and Guyana in South America. Dr. Bardouille called attention to the vitally important role of collaborative regional governance arrangements in undergirding the viability of Caribbean island states. He focused on how CARICOM enables co-ordinated regional responses to constraints/vulnerabilities associated with “small size” and the achievement of policy success for its members that face “existential threats,” such as climate change and transnational crime. Dr. Bardouille traced the key milestones/achievements of and the challenges that confront CARICOM and reflected on CARICOM’s prospects.
Dr. Nand C. Bardouille is Manager of the Diplomatic Academy of the Caribbean (DAOC), the Caribbean’s premier professional development-oriented diplomatic studies training centre and an integral part of the Institute of International Relations at The University of the West Indies (UWI). He is also an IIS Research Associate.