If Great Britain had attempted to form a "local Parliament" of multiple Lesser Antilles islands early enough, giving them a say in local government via this new avenue, perhaps something might have occured. Customs unions, mutual emigrations, etc, etc, would have solidified this relationship.
However, Britain largely held off on allowing significant "inclusive" local government until near the end of colonialism, preferring Royal Governors, maybe advised by local elites tied only to the mother country. As such, the newly enfranchised black majorities, and to a lesser extent the white ruling minorities, did not have any "common destiny" with the other Caribbean islands and therefore preferred to go their own way. Antigua did not consider St. Lucia or Jamaica any more their political peer than Thailand.
A parallel may be drawn to the 13 colonies of the United States. Until the 7 Years War, there was no sense of common destiny. If Britain had encouraged the formation of a "joint Parliament" to focus on Continental issues (trade, customs union, cooperation against Indians, a small central army), the problems of forming the union would be much reduced.
Of course, if Britain had allowed a "joint Parliament", there would have been no revolution in the first place.
On what national basis? The Caribbean is too diverse culturally to be a single polity and doesn't make geographic sense as a country.
British tried that in 1958, lasted until 1963. The West Indies Federation.
If Great Britain had attempted to form a "local Parliament" of multiple Lesser Antilles islands early enough, giving them a say in local government via this new avenue, perhaps something might have occured. Customs unions, mutual emigrations, etc, etc, would have solidified this relationship.
However, Britain largely held off on allowing significant "inclusive" local government until near the end of colonialism, preferring Royal Governors, maybe advised by local elites tied only to the mother country. As such, the newly enfranchised black majorities, and to a lesser extent the white ruling minorities, did not have any "common destiny" with the other Caribbean islands and therefore preferred to go their own way. Antigua did not consider St. Lucia or Jamaica any more their political peer than Thailand.
A parallel may be drawn to the 13 colonies of the United States. Until the 7 Years War, there was no sense of common destiny. If Britain had encouraged the formation of a "joint Parliament" to focus on Continental issues (trade, customs union, cooperation against Indians, a small central army), the problems of forming the union would be much reduced.
Of course, if Britain had allowed a "joint Parliament", there would have been no revolution in the first place.