Nation, Region and Fragmentation in the Contemporary Caribbean

Abstract

Historically, the national has taken precedence over the regional perspective in the Caribbean and Latin America. Regional integration projects in the Caribbean and Latin America have been grounded in technocratic and ideological views that assume political and cultural identities, congruencies and affinities that do not correspond with the nationalism of the dominant elites in the Latin American continent and the Caribbean archipelago. The Caribbean was constructed as an integral part of the first major Western project of globalization. The region was the fulcrum for the emergence of European empires. The Caribbean was not a mere link in the global chains and circuits of production exchange and value; it was a key component of these chains and circuits from the beginning of European expansion. The Caribbean elites see their dominance as part of this link to the world market. The Neoliberal globalization project thus poses a great challenge to the development of a Caribbean identity that could result in a political project of regional integration.