ABSTRACT
The Commonwealth Caribbean regional movement is in principle open to State other than those of the Commonwealth Caribbean, although entry to some of the institutions must be via entry to the Community and the Common Market. The pattern of membership provisions among the treaty-based institutions is subject to variations. The Commonwealth Caribbean regional movement has no permanent tribunal exercising an international law jurisdiction, notwithstanding the existence of a regional court with jurisdiction in municipal law questions, nor is there any incorporation of United Nations mechanisms for the settlement of disputes, such as the International Court of Justice. The factor of the participation of Associated States and colonies together with independent States in the instruments of Commonwealth Caribbean regionalism is in some way linked to a general political assumption that any condition falling short of independence is a transitional stage to independence.
