aribbean Issues

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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

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.

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

Environment

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.

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Regional 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.

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Energy

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.

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Podcast episodes

The Lobbyist's Paradise

The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 3 - Forty Years In The Room

The Bahamas is not buying Roger Stone's Caribbean policy expertise; it is buying verified proximity to Donald Trump and an operative skilled at creating enough pressure and noise to be heard. His conviction and presidential pardon function as proof of loyalty, turning controversy into an asset despite the financial and reputational cost.

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The Lobbyist's Paradise

The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 2 - The Hospital

The hospital's true cost is not only its $278 million construction price and continuing public subsidy; it is the geopolitical price of securing urgent infrastructure when the power demanding loyalty does not provide a viable offer. The Bahamas accepted China's financing and then bought Washington access as diplomatic insurance.

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The Lobbyist's Paradise

The Lobbyist's Paradise - Episode 1 - The Protection Racket

The $1.25 million DCI Group contract appears to be crisis insurance rather than a purchase of measurable deliverables: The Bahamas paid for access to Trump-aligned influence while facing U.S. pressure over a China-financed hospital and a national election. FARA reveals who was paid, but not what happened behind closed doors.

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Podcast

A DEEP DIVE INTO THE QUIET AIRLIFT

A deep dive into JetBlue's decision to end nonstop service to Antigua, using that single route cancellation as the entry point into a much larger question: how exposed is the Caribbean's tourism economy to decisions made in boardrooms it has no seat at?This episode unpacks how the region's dependence on foreign carriers creates structural risk — airlines optimize for shareholder returns and network-wide restructuring, not the developmental needs of small-island states. We look at why extra-regional connectivity to North America has nearly doubled over the past decade and a half while intra-Caribbean connectivity has collapsed by close to a third, leaving tourism-dependent islands better linked to distant gateways than to each other. And we ask what it would take for CARICOM governments to move from negotiating airlift one country at a time to bargaining as a bloc — before the next route disappears. Companion article: " The Quiet Airlift ," available now on Caribbean Issues. To hear more, visit caribbeanissues.substack.com

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