Doctoral Dissertation Research: Regional Economic Integration and the Changing Spaces of Politics in the Caribbean

超国家和跨国区域经济正在出现，作为对贸易带动的发展的竞争压力的地域性反应。 对这些新兴区域机构的分析往往侧重于它们对管理和控制经济流动的影响及其对民族国家主权的潜在威胁。 区域经济一体化对政治空间的影响则较少受到关注，在这种政治空间中，地方社区可以表达他们对贸易带动的发展的关切。 初步证据表明，区域经济一体化正在重塑政治机会的地理格局，并为边缘化社区创造了新的可能性，使其能够要求超越民族国家的问责和行动。 侧重于在加勒比地区的区域一体化，博士论文研究项目将比较两个非政府组织（一个劳工和一个女权主义者为导向）如何解释和与区域经济机构互动，以促进他们所代表的利益。 将在巴巴多斯、圭亚那和特立尼达三个地点采用档案研究、与组织代表的访谈和参与者观察相结合的方法。 使用基于文本的管理器，数据将被分析，以揭示在加勒比地区的政治机会的不断变化的性质和规模的叙述。 通过比较两个截然不同的组织，可以评估哪些问题在区域一级得到了最成功的处理。 了解非国家行为者如何在这一复杂的政治机会的景观中运作，将推进区域经济一体化如何改变政治空间的理论和实证理解。本研究的意义在于，它调查区域经济一体化如何重组政治空间，创造机会，在国家以外的规模的政治行动。 该研究有助于政治和经济地理学和女权主义研究中的实证和理论辩论。 它通过关注文化话语和非国家行为体的活动，扩展和深化了对区域经济一体化的分析。 探索加勒比共同体是如何转变的，以及不同的行为体如何解释区域主义，是理解超国家区域如何成为增加公众参与和重振民主政治的潜在场所的关键。 在全球化加剧和体制受到侵蚀之际，增进对加勒比区域发展进程的经验性理解，为满足穷人和边缘人口的需要提供了独特的见解。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。

Supra-national and transnational regional economies are emerging as a territorial response to the competitive pressures of trade-led development. Analysis of these emerging regional institutions has tended to focus on their implications for the management and control of economic flows and their potential threat to the sovereignty of nation-states. Less attention has been directed to the impact of regional economic integration on the political spaces in which local communities can articulate their concerns over trade-led development. Preliminary evidence suggests regional economic integration is remaking the geography of political opportunity and creating new possibilities for marginalized communities to demand accountability and action at scales beyond the nation-state. Focusing on regional integration in the Caribbean, the doctoral dissertation research project will compare how two non-governmental organizations (one labor- and one feminist-oriented) have interpreted and interacted with regional economic institutions to advance the interests of those they represent. A combination of archival research, interviews with organizational representatives and participant observation will be employed in three locations: Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad. Using a text-based manager, data will be analyzed to reveal a narrative of the changing nature and scale of political opportunity in the Caribbean. Comparing two very different organizations makes it possible to assess which issues have been addressed most successfully at the regional scale. Understanding how non-state actors operate within this complex landscape of political opportunities will advance theoretical and empirical understandings of how regional economic integration transforms political space.The significance of this research lies in its investigation of how regional economic integration reorganizes political space to create opportunities for political action at scales beyond the nation. The research contributes to empirical and theoretical debates within political and economic geography and feminist studies. It extends and deepens analysis of regional economic integration through its attention to cultural discourses and the activities of non-state actors. Exploring how Caribbean community is transformed and how different actors interpret regionalism is key to understanding how supra-national regions are emerging as potential sites for increased public engagement and reinvigorated democratic politics. Advancing empirical understanding of the process of regional development in the Caribbean provides unique insight into meeting the needs of poor and marginal populations at a time of intensified globalization and institutional erosion. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.