The current tensions between Trinidad and Tobago and CARICOM are not simply signs of regional failure. They raise a deeper question: does the political and economic bargain forged in the 1970s still reflect the interests of Caribbean states today? This essay examines the national interests, inequalities and changing development strategies reshaping regional integration.

Development aid is often measured by the resources provided. This essay asks a different question: what happens when money is left on the table? Drawing on political economy and lived experience, it explores how institutional design, power and governance shape access to aid, arguing that development outcomes depend not only on funding, but on the capacity of systems to receive, navigate and transform opportunity.