What is globalization? Globalization is a procedure of interaction and integration among people, companies and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and assisted by information technology. The globalization process has negative and positive effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development, on economic prosperity and on human physical well-being in societies around the world. Caribbean integration is a procedure where surrounding islands enter into an agreement in order to improve cooperation through common institutions and rules. The aims of the agreement could be economic, political, environmental or security as outlined by the island’s national governments. With Caribbean integration, the smaller Caribbean islands would be able to surpass their limitations in having smaller economies when compared to the larger Caribbean islands. Additionally, all Caribbean islands who participate in regional integration would be able to pool all of their resources together and they would have the ability to trade with larger companies as a one organization. As a result, Caribbean integration still have relevance for Caribbean development in terms of trade, education and sports. However, there are many financial, geographical and political problems impeding the establishment of Caribbean integration. 

The implementation of Caribbean integration can facilitate trade among Caribbean islands with each other and with countries outside of the Caribbean region. The Caribbean community (CARICOM) member states have operated with each other for multilateral and extra-regional trade agreements (Nicholls and Williams 116). However, only in 2008 these trade agreements in the Caribbean region became operational economic units mainly because the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas initiative pressured the Caribbean integration bodies to operate completely with these trade agreements (Garcia 55). These trade agreements was not fully operational because some of the bigger islands believe that the smaller islands would just take their resources without contributing anything to the integration bodies and some Caribbean leaders were incapable of putting aside their national identities so that these integration bodies can function under one Caribbean identity as an unit. These are some of the main reasons why the West Indies Federation was disbanded in 1962. The Caribbean integration bodies such as CARICOM, The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OESC) have the ability to trade with larger organizations such the European Union (EU) and WTO. Furthermore, the Caribbean created tariffs and tax reductions among themselves, a free trade space which can facilitate cheaper products being traded among each other. In this free trade space there is also free movement of services, capital and people which facilitates the Caribbean islands investing in each other. This investment can improve the economic development in the region. On the other hand, with slavery all profits were sent to the homeland of the European colonizers and the Caribbean economy was left to suffer in debt, with all its citizens living in poverty. Investment into new forms of capital for example new buildings can provide Caribbean citizens, jobs throughout the region and lead to the reduction in unemployment in the Caribbean region.

Caribbean integration has led to the establishment of many educational based institutions. One of these institutions are the examination testing institution called Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) which offers many examinations to test the level of competence of secondary school students such as Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) for third formers at the secondary school level, Caribbean Secondary Examinations (CSEC) for fifth formers at the secondary school level and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) for sixth formers at secondary school. Furthermore, Caribbean integration has also led to the establishment of a tertiary education institution called the University of the West Indies.  These institutions provided the West Indians some level of social upward mobility in the Caribbean region. With the certificates from CXC or CAPE and a degree from the University of the West Indies, Caribbean citizens was able to qualify for jobs in their homeland or across the region. However, due to the rapid development of technology around the world, the Caribbean educational system has been forced to involve all their students at all levels to take a course or subject under the bracket of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in an attempt to keep up with the rest of the world because with a degree of scientific and technological literary, Caribbean citizens can have more productive lives (Dixon and Hutton 1). STEM education describes an interdisciplinary approach to learning, where academic concepts are combined with real-world lessons as students apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics in contexts that make connections between work, school and the community (Dixon and Hutton 5). With this degree in technological literacy Caribbean citizens have the ability to access more jobs whether or not their goal was to work in a STEM-related field. Furthermore, the investing into the STEM-related field can provide another stream of income for the Caribbean so the region does not only depend on tourism and alleviate some percentage of the Caribbean high debt levels. With a more STEM based economy, the economy would experience some positive economic growth and foreign investors would be enticed to invest in the Caribbean since foreign investors believe that they can make profit. As a result, the gross domestic product of the Caribbean region would increase then, more Caribbean citizens would be brought out of poverty because they have a job. 

Sports in the Caribbean specifically cricket was the earliest form of Caribbean integration. This helped to develop the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). This gave the Caribbean citizens a reason to support their fellow West Indians, more so in the past then in the present because during the 1950s the West Indians cricket team defeated one of its European colonizers, England at Lord’s in a test series 3 – 1. The West Indies Cricket team is the most consistent fielded sporting team in the Caribbean region and has provided the Caribbean with a sense of pride, nationalism and Caribbean identity over the years. The West Indies Cricket team has provided many heroes and role models for the Caribbean such as Brain Lara (Trinidad & Tobago), Sir Vivan Richards (Antigua and Barbuda), Frank Worrell (Barbados) and Curtley Ambrose (Antigua and Barbuda). These role models have provided many future Caribbean sportsmen and sportswomen the layout in how to be successful in sports especially cricket. Sadly as the years went by, the standard of the West Indian cricket team has dropped significantly due to many reasons such as the lack of a leader, the lack of consistent recruitment of younger cricketers around the Caribbean throughout the years and the lack of functional training facilities in the Caribbean for cricketers to perfect and improve their skills. Besides all the problems associated cricket in the Caribbean, it unified the cricketers and the Caribbean spectators through co-participation which the English cricket was not able to accomplish since it was seen as a form of relaxation and domination over the blacks in society (Thomas 401). Therefore, during slavery the black slaves when they got the rare opportunity to play cricket, they used it as a way to relieve stress and frustration from the slave treatment. The appointment of Frank Worrell as the first black captain of the West Indies cricket team created a new style of play, a new team effort and a sense of togetherness among the West Indian cricketers this was one of the first creations of Caribbean identity post emancipation era (Thomas 402). As a result, the West Indies cricketers was finally given the freedom to be themselves and to play their style of play for example the fast bowling. However, as we moved towards the 2000s where the West Indies economies were under pressure from the globalized world the style of play from the West Indies cricket team became doubtful, tentative, defensive, unentertaining and strokeless (Thomas 406). Then, it can be deduced that whatever the Caribbean region is going through it can be seen in the style of play of the West Indian cricket team. 

If the Caribbean aspires to be a globalizing economy many trade liberating policies would be implemented to encourage extra- regional companies to set up in the Caribbean islands. The influx of extra-regional companies would increase competition and displace local products since the trade reductions for the products of extra-regional companies would make their products cheaper than local products. The barriers used to protect the local businesses no longer exist. As a result, the local businesses are unable to maintain the same workforce they had before with the influx of extra-regional companies that are taking away all of local businesses’ profits and customers then some of the workforce is laid off. In some worse cases, the local businesses shut down completely. Unfortunately, the islands’ citizens become dependent on the cheaper products offered by extra-regionals companies. This is similar to the dependency syndrome which occurred during the days of slavery and plantation society. It is important to note, that some Caribbean countries only offered tax breaks and tax holidays for a certain time period. So when this time period is over the extra-regional companies leave the Caribbean islands and go back home or to another Caribbean country who are offering better tax breaks and holidays. The departure of these extra-regional companies would increase the level of unemployment in the Caribbean. Additionally, studies have shown that it becomes very difficult for unskilled workers and those with small amounts of education to gain entry or even remain in the labour market when the country turn towards globalization (Phillips and Devonish 56). This happens because workers are no longer competing against fellow citizens but other citizens from across the world, so Caribbean unemployment increases drastically. Another reason why unskilled workers are unable to find a job in a globalized economy is due to the technological equipment and developments which can do their cashier, gas attendant and housekeeping jobs at a faster, more productive way and the employer would not have to pay for wages. These Caribbean islands are exploited by stronger economic countries because majority, if not all the profits of the extra-regional companies are sent back to their home. This is the same treatment the Caribbean islands received during the slavery when they were producing agricultural products for example, ‘King Sugar’. Furthermore, the Caribbean region has the same historical background, stable institutions and high levels of education and health social indicators which can provide a strong foundation for working together towards a more functional level of Caribbean integration. 

            In conclusion, becoming global citizens would eliminate Caribbean identity completely because the Caribbean citizens would adopt a global identity mostly from the United States or European countries and discard what our ancestors fought endlessly and tirelessly for during slavery, their freedom. Therefore, Caribbean integration is still relevant in trade, education and sports for the economic and social growth of the

                                      

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