1) Bibliographic data
Serbin, Andrés (1994) “Transnational Relations and Regionalism
in the Caribbean. Part of a Symposium on US-Caribbean Relations” The
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science v. 533 May:139-50.
2) Question(s) addressed by the author and working arguments
Even the article examines some of the transnational relationships in
the Caribbean, it is not optimistic about the disappearance any time
soon of the linguistic, ethnocultural and political barriers that have
historically kept the Caribbean balkanized.
Since the 1960s the Caribbean Basin has been undergoing a process of
subregional differentiation within the hemisphere, as a result of a particular
geopolitical, economic, and political dynamic. Transnational relations
between the peoples of the countries In the region have, until just recently,
been limited and difficult.
On the one hand, the end of the Cold War diminished the Caribbean Basin’s
strategic importance and generated a radical shift in the regional security
agenda traditionally imposed by extraregional actors. The resulting geopolitical
vacuum at the regional level is causing increasing apprehension among
Caribbean Basin actors. On the other hand, the process of increasing
globalization and economic interdependence and the emergence of three
blocs in the dynamics of the world economy, raise questions regarding
the competitive and efficient insertion of the region’s states
in the new international order.
3)
Conceptual references to transnational – transnationalism
In contemporary Caribbean history, it is political parties that have
contributed most to generating transnational interaction, based on
ideological identification and political strategies that they have
attempted, with generally limited success, to forge wider regional
strategies and links.
4) Conclusions or Final Remarks
In contrast with the events of the Caribbean Basin’s past, this
regional view is not restricted to specific sectors of the governmental,
political, economic, and intellectual elite. Instead, it has grown and
become more complex through the intervention of additional actors and
the widening of transnational relations in the region, while expanding
its focus to adapt to a broader perception of the region, its priority
interests, and the new international context. A new regional view is
emerging that is more complex and broader in scope and where the views
generated by the various interests and strategies converge either antagonistically
or complementarily, creating in turn a new fabric of regional transnational
relations that transcends the traditional fragmentation that has historically
characterized the Caribbean Basin.
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