Discusses the experience of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) as a case study of regional cooperation among developing countries in response to the challenges of globalisation. The ACS was launched in 1994 with membership of the countries of the ‘Greater Caribbean’ region. It evolved a system of functional cooperation in intra- and extra-regional relations in economic, social and environmental matters—a ‘Zone of Cooperation’ rather than an economic integration scheme. In its first seven years it faced the challenges of securing political consensus among its members, gaining public legitimacy and demarcating a distinct role for itself. Conflicting conceptions of its role–integration/maximalist vs. cooperation/niche—were eventually resolved in favour of the latter. Structural differences among member states underlay the processes of contradiction, competition, and complementarity in agenda setting. The conclusion is that the ACS experience demonstrates that regionalism in functional cooperation across a shared geographic space can play an important role, even in the absence of market liberalisation and integration.

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