What does CARICOM integration change in practice?
Caribbean governance is strongest when public accountability, capable institutions and regional cooperation turn political commitments into measurable outcomes for Caribbean people.
Caribbean Issues authority topic
Caribbean Governance, Politics and CARICOM
Caribbean Issues coverage of government, public accountability, CARICOM, regional integration, diplomacy and political decision-making.
Editorially reviewed · Updated August 29, 2026
Key answer
Caribbean governance is strongest when public accountability, capable institutions and regional cooperation turn political commitments into measurable outcomes for Caribbean people.
Questions this hub answers
How should Caribbean institutions be held accountable?
Caribbean governance is strongest when public accountability, capable institutions and regional cooperation turn political commitments into measurable outcomes for Caribbean people.
Where do regional and national interests conflict?
Caribbean governance is strongest when public accountability, capable institutions and regional cooperation turn political commitments into measurable outcomes for Caribbean people.
Analysis and reporting
Caribbean Economy
The Caribbean’s Bill for Global Shocks
How the 2026 oil shock reached Caribbean power bills and what governments can do to keep food, electricity and emergency payments available.
Read or listenGovernance, CARICOM and Regional Integration
939 People: What CARICOM’s Free Movement Numbers Really Show
CARICOM reports 939 people processed, but its country figures add to 1,076. We examine the discrepancy, workers’ outcomes and the next integration test.
Read or listenCaribbean Diaspora
The Caribbean Diaspora Data Gap
A 15-member CARICOM scorecard examines the policies, data, communication, investment pathways and accountability needed for diaspora engagement.
Read or listenMigration & Reparatory Justice
Reparations for the Dead, Deportation for the Living
Why did the United States resume deportations to Haiti while warning Americans not to travel there? Caribbean Issues examines TPS, regional deportation agreements and CARICOM’s response.
Read or listenCaribbean Economy
The 25×25 Reckoning: Why Caribbean Food Bills Remain High—and What Must Change Before the Next Drought
CARICOM’s nominal food-import total rose sharply between 2020 and 2024, but missing methodology prevents a defensible final verdict on the original 25×25 target.
Read or listenHistory & Reparatory Justice
Baptized and Branded: How the Church Profited from Caribbean Slavery—and Who Should Control the Repair
An Anglican society owned Barbados sugar estates and collected slavery compensation. Caribbean Issues asks who should control reparations and the assets they create.
Read or listenGeopolitics
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Read or listenRegional Security & Global Power
The Lobbyist's Paradise: Inside The Bahamas' $1.25 Million Bet on Trump World
A $250,000-a-month Nassau lobbying deal links election politics, a Chinese-backed hospital fight, and a global influencer-for-hire network.
Read or listenGeopolitics
“I Can Name Their Children” ... Turn off his mic!
An Al Jazeera correspondent spent a week with two missing Saint Lucian men's families. Then he faced their Prime Minister.
Read or listenGeopolitics
THE VERDICT — UPDATED
Caribbean Issues reads and reevaluates "The Verdict" of "The Renewal Test" as the 51st Communiqué is now fully published
Read or listenEnvironment
The Verdict
The Renewal Test · Final Judgment. One concrete outcome. Four deferred, softened, or silent. Pierre has five months left to prove the word means something.
Read or listenGeopolitics
The Room Where It Happens
The Renewal Test · Day Two. Pierre passed the rhetoric test last night? The closed-door retreat today is the real one.
Read or listenRegional Security & Global Power
The Renewal Test
Saint Lucia opens in seven days. Four crises, one institutional rupture, and a chairmanship theme that has to mean what it says.
Read or listenRegional Security & Global Power
The Story of Us: Bermuda, CARICOM, and the Identity Vote
Tonight at Penno's Wharf in St. George's, Bermuda continues a consultation that is not really about membership. It is about who Bermuda has already decided to be.
Read or listenEnergy
After the Pandemic, the Power Cut
An "energy lockdown" is already encircling the Caribbean - and quietly, ministers across the region are preparing for the kind of squeeze most citizens have not yet been told to expect.
Read or listenGeopolitics
SUNSET IN THE CRESCENT
How Iran, China, and Russia Are Expelling the United States from the Middle East- and Why the Caribbean Is Now the New Front Line
Read or listenGeopolitics
Caribbean on the Brink: 50th Summit Ignites Fears of CARICOM’s Imminent Collapse
Echoes of 1962 Federation Disaster Grow Louder
Read or listenEconomy
The Silent Fracture: How U.S. Political Networks Are Splitting the Caribbean
The Hidden Ideological War Crippling CARICOM
Read or listenPodcast episodes
The Lobbyist's Paradise
The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 5 - Everybody's Doing It
This episode examines The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 5 - Everybody's Doing It through a Caribbean-first lens, clarifying the governance caricom consequences and the choices facing the region and its diaspora.
Read or listenThe Lobbyist's Paradise
The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 4 - The Kid Who Went Viral At Twelve
CJ Pearson’s appointment shows how viral visibility and partisan access can be converted into a paid foreign-influence role, raising questions about what Caribbean governments receive for public money.
Read or listenThe Lobbyist's Paradise
The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 3 - Forty Years In The Room
The Bahamas is paying Roger Stone for proximity, pressure and access rather than Caribbean policy expertise, accepting a substantial financial and reputational cost.
Read or listenThe Lobbyist's Paradise
The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 2 - The Hospital
The Bahamas’ China-financed hospital reveals how urgent infrastructure needs can force small states to balance development finance against geopolitical pressure.
Read or listenThe Lobbyist's Paradise
The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 1 - The Protection Racket
The Bahamas’ lobbying contract functions as political insurance: public money buys access to Trump-aligned influence while the country navigates pressure over China and an election.
Read or listenPodcast
A DEEP DIVE INTO THE QUIET AIRLIFT
Dependence on foreign airlines leaves Caribbean economies exposed to route decisions made elsewhere; collective regional bargaining and stronger intra-Caribbean links would reduce that risk.
Read or listen