West Indies Federation
Topic: Federalism and Centre-State Relations · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Federalism"
Meaning
The West Indies Federation joined British Caribbean islands into one federation. It lasted only from 1958 to 1962. It failed for three reasons. The centre was weak, each island ran its own separate economy, and the units were rivals. NCERT uses it to show that a federation needs a workable centre and real will among its units to stay together.
Example
After the federation ended in 1962, the islands did not cut ties completely. In 1973 they formed a looser group called the Caribbean Community. It was said that they "could neither live together nor separately".
Don't confuse with
- Nigerian federation: Nigeria survived as one country despite deep conflict. The West Indies Federation actually broke up.
Related concepts
- Federalism
- Features of federalism
- Unitary system
- Coming-together federation
- Holding-together federation
- Nigerian federation