ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some additional comments on the cultural situation in the region are made from two main standpoints. First, the question is asked: How can we account for the persistence, with paradoxical tenacity, of the disparity between the central place of culture in the political discourse of Caribbean leaders and the weakness or failure of the cultural policies implemented in most countries? Second, suggestions are made with respect to the requirements of a carefully thought-out and integrated national cultural policy, one that can offer the possibility of transcending social and ethno-national divisions. For while most countries have sought to incorporate a cultural development policy in overall national development strategy, too often the policy option that of "cultural tourism" as a justification for any activity in this domain, and certainly as a priority before cultural integration. Thus despite a rhetorical adherence to the cultural dimension of national development, public cultural actions are frequently seen as mere appendages to tourism.
