Breaking from Isolation: Suriname's Participation in Regional Integration Initiatives

This paper discusses Suriname's efforts in regional integration initiatives, starting in the 1990s. In the first section, the authors identify some concrete initiatives undertaken by Suriname to broaden and diversify its economic links, and highlight the many barriers that remain to be overcome in that area. Next, they examine, from a theoretical point of view, the costs and benefits of regional integration, which have been one of the key components of Suriname's increasingly outward-oriented development agenda. Subsequent sections provide a more detailed analysis of Suriname's recent integration efforts, and how these may influence its future development prospects. It is the authors' contention that by adopting the tenets of "open regionalism", Suriname has embarked on an effective process of global market integration, which will both shield it from --and gradually prepare it for-- the harsh adjustments of full-blown international competition.