Regional Integration-Stages in

the Integration Movement

SOCIAL STUDIES
GRADE:10
Why a Federation?
 West Indians were generally dissatisfied with the
unresponsiveness and reluctance shown by the British
government to deal with the social, economic and
political problems being faced by the colonies. They
wanted an end to poor living and working conditions,
limited political powers, and discrimination based on
race and class.
 West Indians in leadership positions, felt that they were
trained and knowledgeable about their own states and
could take over control of their own governance. The
teachings of Marcus Garvey helped to empower blacks
to take charge of their own governance.
West Indies Federation
The first major “regionalism” initiative of recent
times was the West Indies Federation.
The West Indies Federation was an attempt to
unite the English-speaking Caribbean islands.
This was established at a time when living
conditions in the islands were very bad because
of neglect by the UK. The islands felt that they
needed to work towards improving living
conditions.
Additionally, the islands were still colonies
and they wanted to achieve greater self-rule
form England. This sought to create a political
union between its 10 member states
Members states
 Jamaica
 Trinidad and Tobago
 Barbados
 Antigua and Barbuda
 Dominica
 Grenada
 Montserrat
 St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla
 St. Lucia
 St. Vincent.
The federation was established by the
British Caribbean Federation Act in 1956
and came into being in 1958.
 A federal government was established,
headed by an executive governor general.
Issues Debated:
Direct taxation by the federal government
Centralised planning for development
A regional customs union
A revision of the federal institution.
The federation sought to established federal
institutions and created a federal civil service.
Tertiary level education was also consolidated
and expanded with a new campus of the then
University College of the West Indies (UCWI)
created at St. Augustine in Trinidad to
compliment the campus at Mona Jamaica.
Objectives of the West Indies
federation:

To improve the social and economic

conditions of its members and to help them
move towards self-government.
These objectives were to be achieved
through the establishment of a customs union
and the setting up of a federal government.
However, the customs union was not
established and the federation therefore
provided no significant economic benefits.
 to come up with ideas to solve their social and
economic problems
 to loosen the grip of foreign control over the
economies of the countries.
 To secure cheaper prices for imports and better
prices for exports.
 To resist the United States intervention in the
affairs of the Caribbean.
 To achieve independence and self-governing
status from the mother country
 During the federation the member states operated
the University College of the West Indies
(UCWI) and the West Indies Shipping Services.
Achievements:
Federation facilitated the movement from
colonialism to independence through a united
voice.
The coming together of small states
strengthened their effectiveness in dealing with
international bodies such as the United Nations.
The Federal Government 1958-62

The federation was administered by a central government

which was made up of:
A council of state consisting of a governor-general, a prime
minister and ten ministers.
19 member senate nominated by the governor-general,
each country except Montserrat had two members in the
senate.
House of representative comprising 45 members elected
from the member states by universal suffrage and with the
number seats for each country being based on the size of its
population.
The total population of the federation was
between three and four million, Jamaica and
Trinidad had the largest population.
Each member had its own elected government
and was also represented in the central or
federal government; the headquarters was
located in Trinidad and Tobago.
Members financial contributions
Members financial contributions to the federal
budget – Jamaica 43%, Trinidad and Tobago
39%, Barbados 9% Others 9%.

Jamaica 43%
Trinidad and Tobago
39%
Barbados 9%
Others 9%
Problems Arising
The larger territories feared their development
would be impeded by smaller and generally
poorer colonies.
Many politicians believed that the focus should
not have been on moving towards a Federation
but rather each territory moving to achieve full
self-government.
The question of funding became an issue of
debate.
Collapse of the Federation
The West Indies Federation was short-lived and
did not bring about any significant changes in the
region. These are some reasons why the
federation collapsed:
In 1961 Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, the
federation’s two largest financial contributors
withdrew from the group.
The federal government could not levy taxes and
therefore had to depend on financial
contributions from members to meet its expenses.
The federation failed to improve trade, wages
and employment, and educational, housing and
medical facilities in the West Indies.
The federation was made up of countries that
were at different stages of development.
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were more
advanced and did not want their economic
progress to be hindered by having to support
the poorer members.
There were limited interactions between
citizens of member states.
“One from ten leaves nought”

Comment made by Eric Williams, former

prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, when
Jamaica withdrew.
Evaluation
Imagine you are a newspaper columnist
looking back at the reasons for the failure of
the West Indies Federation. Identify THREE
issues that Caribbean leaders should address
before entering into any future
cooperation/integration agreement. 30 marks.
Glossary
Regional – a bloc or geographic region/area
that has things in common.
Integration – coming together for a common
purpose
Customs union – an agreement between
neighbouring countries to remove trade
barriers, and reduce or eliminate customs duty
on mutual trade. The member countries also
agree to impose a common external tariff on
imports from non-member countries.
 Federation (political union) – a group of countries or
states that have joined together to form a single group;
power is divided between a central/federal government
and the governments of the countries or states. The
group is recognized internationally as a single political
entity.
 Common External Tariff (CET) – a rate of customs
duty which is uniformly applied by countries in an
economic grouping to import from countries which are
not part of the group.
 Bi-lateral agreement – an agreement between two
groups or countries.
 Multi-lateral agreement – an agreement among many
groups or countries.
Self-rule/self-government – government by the
inhabitants of a country and not an outside
authority.
Functional or non-economic cooperation – an
organized group of countries jointly sharing the
costs of providing common services, for
example, Caribbean countries sharing the costs
of providing education at the University of the
West Indies.