The Communications Industry in the Caribbean: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be a powerful enabler of growth and development. For the countries of CARIFORUM, beset by small internal markets, loss of preferential trade advantages, a downturn in demand for their traditional products and vulnerability to global economic pressures, the transformation to a knowledge-based, ICT-intensive society could assist in propelling the region toward desired levels of growth and development. However, access and affordability, lack of infrastructure, fragmented policy and regulatory frameworks and differential levels of educational attainment, among other issues, are hindering progress toward that goal. This paper distills the critical qualities and interventions required for the Caribbean to benefit from global innovations in ICTs.
Caribbean Regional Governance and the Sovereignty/Statehood Problem
The authors of a new paper on Caribbean regional governance cite the urgent need for a frank debate about sovereignty and statehood. They propose steps the region's leaders can take to design a new set of governance arrangements for CARICOM, and argue that it is only with an updated concept of sovereignty that effective institutions can be built to assist the region.
The Caribbean Papers Summaries: Released and Forthcoming
This publication is a compilation of summaries and abstracts of previously released and forthcoming Caribbean Papers. Summaries included cover topics such as regional transportation, the communications industry, national and regional identity, migration and social partnerships.
Diasporas and Development: An Assessment of the Irish Experience for the Caribbean
Dialogue on diasporas and their role in the development of the home country has grown in the last twenty years and Caribbean states have begun to identify ways they can engage their nationals residing abroad in this process. Those in the region looking to harness the power of the diaspora have turned their attention to the example of Ireland, a country with a large diaspora that has contributed significantly to its national advancement. By highlighting the lessons of the Irish experience, this paper argues that while the Caribbean's diaspora has the desire to contribute and does help through remittances, there remain a number of challenges to this participation including perceptions of security and stability, establishing the conditions necessary for attracting investment and a lack of confidence in government institutions in the region.
Public Sector Reform in the Commonwealth Caribbean: A Review of Recent Experiences
The importance of an efficient and effective public service in the delivery of economic and social development is a long-standing theme of development policy. To this end, comprehensive public sector reform has become a major feature in many developing countries in recent years. This paper examines the recent experience of the Commonwealth Caribbean with a particular focus on the successes and failures of New Public Management (NPM) as a strategy for reform. It begins by briefly examining the institutional environment that has shaped public administration and public management in the Commonwealth Caribbean and then examines some of the principal ideas behind NPM, distinguishing it from the previous dominant paradigm of development administration. The paper then identifies three key issues that have emerged in the reform process: the political-administrative interface; the private sector as a model for the public sector; and the human resource dimension of managing change. In each case the background to reform is given along with the NPM solution to the problem and a case study exemplifying how it has worked out in practice. The paper concludes by discussing two key dimensions of the NPM experience: its internationalization and the importance of politics in promoting and sustaining a successful public sector reform program. Te final section examines some of the main lessons of reform and what direction it might take in the future.
First, Do No Harm: The Role and Responsibility of Canada as a Destination Country in South-North Migration
Analyses of South-North migration usually focus on the consequences of migration for the sending countries and recommend measures to improve development outcomes.This paper instead examines the role and responsibility of migrant-receiving states, and constructs a framework of intervention areas for Canada from work conducted in other developed countries. One major concern is that wealthy, migrant-receiving countries are impeding their own overseas development assistance efforts through migration related policies that are contradictory or incoherent across such policy areas as migration, labour, trade, development aid and international affairs. The paper concludes with a discussion of the reasons Canada should reverse this trend and embark on a new development partnership in its future relations with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states. Nearly 400,000 permanent residents of Canada were born in one of the CARICOM states and a further 9,000 CARICOM nationals come to Canada each year under temporary worker programs.
'Remote' in the Eastern Caribbean: The Antigua−US WTO Internet Gambling Case
The structure of the multilateral trading system is widely assumed to contain bias towards big actors, unevenly distributing access to the key processes of the system. Small countries, including Caribbean states, have long focused their attention on physical merchandise, while the US has taken on the role of disciplinarian, confronting countries that they perceive to be in violation of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
Beyond Tourism: The Future of the Services Industry in the Caribbean
The small economies of the Caribbean have entered a period of extraordinary economic uncertainty driven by the impact of new trade rules on the region's agricultural sector; dramatic advances in technology that have lowered barriers to entry; and fierce global competition from large, low-wage countries in Asia. Furthermore, the Caribbean nations' ability to sustain a high level of social well-being is suffering due to the effects of broader economic change that has left the region in a reactive position. Against this backdrop, the services sector in the Caribbean may serve as an important source of economic growth, but only if the region begins to move beyond tourism to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the areas of banking and financial services, call centres and information and communication technology, off-shore education and health services, and transportation. This essay assesses the future prospects for the Caribbean to create a thriving service-based economy and offers ideas to help the region to both build on and transcend its reliance on tourism to carve a more profitable and sustainable niche in the global economy.
Brain Drain, Brain Circulation, Remittances and Development Prospects for the Caribbean
The issue of brain drain as a result of South-North migration has been a preoccupation for developing countries around the world and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states in particular. In recent years, the debate has moved beyond brain drain to speculate on the development prospects of brain circulation through return migration. Also on the current agenda are the prospects for economic development through remittances and the engagement of diaspora communities. This paper examines the evolution of the debate and key issues with particular attention to the implications for small, developing states within CARICOM. Of particular importance is the conclusion that remittances alone are not sufficient for economic development and are, in fact, a reverse subsidy to wealthier countries. However, through domestic reforms and international advocacy and cooperation it may be possible to improve the development returns of highly skilled emigration.
Repositioning the Caribbean within Globalisation
In the last twenty years, the Commonwealth Caribbean has moved toward a new technocratic model of development which has sought to reposition the region within the global economy. This paper examines three key policy agendas that have emerged to drive, guide and inform this process: competitiveness, diplomacy and governance. In each case the paper first provides an overview of the main issues, setting the particular circumstances of the Commonwealth Caribbean within wider global developments. It then examines the current "state of play" in each area, highlighting progress made and problems encountered. The last part discusses policy issues in each area, identifying both key concerns in current policy and urgent policy questions that still remain to be resolved. The paper concludes that real progress can be made only if the Commonwealth Caribbean adopts the "functional equivalent" at the regional level of the kind of "development state" that was so successful in East Asia. This will involve restructuring CARICOM to become more innovative, proactive and directive than has been the case to date.