ABSTRACT
The economic conditions for Jamaica's entry into the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) have long been spelled out as complete liberalisation, to the extent of giving up the preferential access to the sugar and banana markets that have been historically important mainstays of the Caribbean economies. The roots of the radical nationalist critique of the structure and dynamics of the Jamaican economy reach back to Marcus Garvey and before. Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean are even more dependent than they were at the start of the 1960s when Cuba seized its sovereignty, and the UK granted constitutional Independence to much of the Anglo-Caribbean. The Post-World War II class structure of the Jamaican society was clearly defined by Independence in 1962. The economic rationale for the Single Market and Economy in CARICOM is to create a regional market as an export base for Caribbean firms to compete in the wider international market.
