The Caribbean Us and Europe
Question: Which one theoretical perspective is most suited for understanding the Caribbean extra-regional relations with the United States and Europe? Support your answer with concrete example of United States and Europe’s relations with the Caribbean in specific contemporary issues of the region.
The Caribbean can be described as an archipelago of islands that stretches from the Yucatan and Florida peninsulas southeast to Venezuela, with the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Dom. Republic, Haiti, Jamaica) in the North and the Lesser Antilles to the South and East. Perceived as flamboyant, effervescent and engaging the Caribbean’s long exposure to the global community via their histories of colonialism, slavery, indenture ship and dependent capitalism have made them among the most culturally flexible people in the world. The ushering of the Independence era saw the Caribbean region’s openness to multiple channels of interaction across national boundaries (Keohane and Nye 2001), particularly with Europe and the United States. This neo-liberalist move has shown the Caribbean’s transition to self-governance shaped by multilateral approaches (Klax, 1998) that include economic, political, ecological, and social and security factors that resulted in efficiency and progress of the Caribbean region. As such this essay will seek to address the Caribbean, EU and US extra-regional relations with specific contemporary issues of the region with reference to neo-liberalist underpinnings of open markets, economic interdependence, collective security and globalization from all actors through cooperation and coordination.
The Caribbean has historically experienced a special and privileged relationship with the E.U. which represented a culmination of negotiations and coordination to establish economic interdependence between the two regions. The European partnership with its former colonies, translated into a system of open market access and trade concessions as well as aid from
The Caribbean can be described as an archipelago of islands that stretches from the Yucatan and Florida peninsulas southeast to Venezuela, with the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Dom. Republic, Haiti, Jamaica) in the North and the Lesser Antilles to the South and East. Perceived as flamboyant, effervescent and engaging the Caribbean’s long exposure to the global community via their histories of colonialism, slavery, indenture ship and dependent capitalism have made them among the most culturally flexible people in the world. The ushering of the Independence era saw the Caribbean region’s openness to multiple channels of interaction across national boundaries (Keohane and Nye 2001), particularly with Europe and the United States. This neo-liberalist move has shown the Caribbean’s transition to self-governance shaped by multilateral approaches (Klax, 1998) that include economic, political, ecological, and social and security factors that resulted in efficiency and progress of the Caribbean region. As such this essay will seek to address the Caribbean, EU and US extra-regional relations with specific contemporary issues of the region with reference to neo-liberalist underpinnings of open markets, economic interdependence, collective security and globalization from all actors through cooperation and coordination.
The Caribbean has historically experienced a special and privileged relationship with the E.U. which represented a culmination of negotiations and coordination to establish economic interdependence between the two regions. The European partnership with its former colonies, translated into a system of open market access and trade concessions as well as aid from