Economic Integration and Caribbean Identity: Convergences and Divergences

The literature on economic integration in the Caribbean and Latin America primarily focuses on economic, institutional and geopolitical issues. Regional economic exchanges (trade* investment), transporta tion, economic structures, political institutions, as well as geographical and demographic factors are high on the list of variables pondered when studying regional integration. Cultural and ideological issues are seldom considered central to the viability of regional integration. Three key factors that constitute the context upon which contradictory tendencies act simultaneously to foster and hinder Caribbean regional integration are discussed: geopolitical, economic and cultural-historical factors. These factors configure "dialectics of cooperation and com petition" and account for both, the basis and fulcrum of regional inte gration and the basis and fulcrum of regional competition and, often, mistrust. A discussion of each of these factors suggests that how they are managed is crucial to the formation of a regional identity and the articulation of a political project of regional integration.