Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The ideological conflicts surrounding the Grenada Revolution hindered Caribbean regionalism and almost led to CARICOM's collapse. A significant body of research has examined the events of the 1979 revolution and the U.S. intervention in 1983. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the revolution’s Marxist-Leninist ideology and its effect on CARICOM and Caribbean regionalism. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the theoretical arguments of regionalism, ideology, and international relations. It explores the situation in the region during the Revolution and invasion, discussing why some CARICOM states supported the invasion while others opposed it. Using an inductive approach, the paper traces the ideological conflicts within CARICOM with regard to the Marxist-Leninist stance of the Grenada Revolutionary Government. The research finding supports the argument that for the future of Caribbean integration, ideological conflicts that influence a country’s ability to implement regional decisions must be considered in policymaking.

Los conflictos ideológicos en torno a la Revolución de Granada obstaculizaron el regionalismo caribeño y casi provocan el colapso de la CARICOM. Un volumen importante de investigaciones ha analizado los acontecimientos de la revolución de 1979 y la intervención estadounidense de 1983. Sin embargo, existe una laguna en la literatura con respecto a la ideología marxista-leninista de la revolución y su efecto sobre la CARICOM y el regionalismo en el Caribe. Este trabajo busca llenar ese vacío mediante el examen de los argumentos teóricos sobre el regionalismo, la ideología y las relaciones internacionales. Se analiza la situación en la región durante la Revolución y la invasión, abordando las razones por las cuales algunos Estados miembros de la CARICOM respaldaron la invasión, mientras que otros se opusieron. A través de un enfoque inductivo, el artículo rastrea los conflictos ideológicos dentro de la CARICOM hacia la postura marxista-leninista del Gobierno Revolucionario de Granada. Los hallazgos de la investigación respaldan el argumento de que, para el futuro de la integración caribeña, los conflictos ideológicos que influyen en la capacidad de un país para aplicar decisiones regionales deben ser tomados en cuenta en el diseño de políticas.

Keywords

CARICOM Caribbean Ideology Regionalism Revolution

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Austin

Hudson

2017 Author conversation with Army General of the People’s Revolutionary Army. St. Georges Grenada. January 30.

Axline

Andrew

1979 Caribbean Integration: The Politics of Regionalism. New York: Nichols Publishing Co.

Axline

Andrew

1994 The Political Economy of Regional Cooperation: Comparative Case Studies. Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

Brown

Oswald

2008 “Is CARICOM’s future threatened?” The Freeport News. August 29.

CARICOM 1973 The Treaty Establishing the Caribbean Community and Common Market. Georgetown: Caribbean Community Secretariat.

CARICOM 1979 St. Georges Declaration. https://caricom.org/declaration-of-st-george-on-16th-july-1979/.

CARICOM 1982 Communique. https://caricom.org/communique-issued-at-the-conclusion-of-the-third-conference-of-the-heads-of-government-of-the-caribbean-community-16-18-november-1982-ocho-rios-jamaica/.

CARICOM 1989 Communiqué issued at the conclusion of the tenth Heads of Government Conference of the Caribbean Community, July 3-7, Grand Anse, Grenada. Georgetown: Caribbean Community Secretariat.

Coard

Bernard

2017 The Grenada Revolution: What Really Happened? Kinston, Jamaica: McDermott Publishing.

10.

Coard

Bernard

2018 Forward Ever: Journey to a New Grenada. Kinston, Jamaica: McDermott Publishing

11.

Dietz

James

1984 “Destabilization and intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Latin American Perspectives 42 (3): 3–14.

12.

Fridell

Gavin

2010 “The case against cheap bananas: Lessons from the E.U.- Caribbean agreement.” Toronto: CERLAC Working Paper Series.

13.

Grenade

Wendy

(ed.) 2015 The Grenada Revolution: Reflections and Lessons. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

14.

Gries

Peter

Yam

Paton Pak Chun

2020 “Ideology and international relations.” Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 34: 135–141.

15.

Hinds

David

2001 “Trinidad’s crisis: A consequence of the Caribbean’s authoritarian culture.” Guyana Politics. October 8.

16.

Jackson

Rashleigh

2002 “Nonintervention and intervention: CARICOM in action-Grenada 1979 and 1983.” Starbroek News.

17.

Jacobs

W. Richard

Jacobs

Ian

1980 Grenada: The Route to Revolution. Havana: Casa De Las Americas.

18.

Joseph

Tennyson

2015 “C.L.R. James and the Grenada revolution: Lessons learned and future possibilities,” pp. 152-178 in Grenade

Wendy

(ed.), The Grenada Revolution: Reflections and Lessons. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

19.

Lewis

Arthur

1950 “The industrialization of the British West Indies.” Caribbean Economic Review 2.

20.

Marcus

Bruce

Taber

Michael

(eds.) 1983 Maurice Bishop Speaks. New York: Pathfinder Press.

21.

Meeks

Brian

1993 Caribbean Revolutions and Revolutionary Theory: An Assessment of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Grenada. London: Macmillan Caribbean.

22.

Meeks

Brian

2001 Narratives of Resistance: Jamaica, Trinidad, the Caribbean. Kingston, Jamaica: University Press of the West Indies.

23.

Meeks

Brian

2015 “Grenada once again: Revisiting the 1983 crisis and collapse of the Grenada revolution,” pp. 56-86 in Grenade

Wendy

(ed.), The Grenada Revolution: Reflections and Lessons. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

24.

Müllerleile

Christopher

1996 Caricom Integration: Progress and Hurdles: A European view. Kingston, Jamaica: Kingston Publishers.

25.

Payne

Anthony

1980 The Politics of the Caribbean Community 1961-1979: Regional Integration Among the States. New York: St. Martin's Press.

26.

Payne

Anthony

Sutton

Paul

Thorndike

Tony

1984 Grenada: Revolution and Invasion. London and Sydney: Croom Helm.

27.

Ramdeo

Jesse

2022 “Expert: Maduro’s support for invasion of Ukraine a regional concern.” Trinidad and Tobago Guardian. March 3.

28.

Reagan

Ronald

1983 “President Reagan’s address to the nation on defense and national security.” March 23. https://www.youtube.com/@RonaldReaganLibrary.

29.

Rogers

William D.

Reisman

W. Michael

Cutler

Lloyd N.

Franck

Thomas M.

1987 “The Brezhnev doctrine and the Reagan doctrine: Apples and oranges?” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law) 81: 561–578.

30.

Rojas

Don

2004 “Remembering Reagan’s invasion of Grenada.” Democracy Now. June 10. https://www.democracynow.org/2004/6/10/remembering_reagans_invasion_of_grenada

31.

Rose

Euclid

2002 Dependency and Socialism in Modern Caribbean: Superpower Intervention in Guyana, Jamaica, and Grenada, 1970-1985. Lanham: Lexington Books.

32.

Sandiford

Gregory W.

Vigilante

Richard

1984 Grenada: The Untold Story. Lanham, New York: Madison Books.

33.

Schumacher

Ernst Friedrich

1989 Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. London: John McClaughry.

34.

Seabury

Paul

McDougall

Walter

(eds.) 1984 The Grenada Papers: The Inside Story of the Grenadian Revolution and the Making of a Totalitarian State-as Told in Captured Documents. San Francisco: Institute for Contemporary Studies.

35.

Searle

Chris

(ed.) 1984 In Nobody's Backyard: Maurice Bishop's Speeches, 1979-1983: A Memorial Volume. London: Zed Books.

36.

Shridath

Ramphal

1971 West Indian Nationhood: Myth, Mirage, or Mandate? Georgetown: Government Printers.

37.

Singham

Archie

1968 The Hero and the Crowd in a Colonial Polity. New Haven: Yale University Press.

38.

Smith

Lindel

1981 “Elections and politics in the Eastern Caribbean.” Caribbean Quarterly 27 (7): 42–62.

39.

Streeter

Stephen

2000 “Interpreting the 1954 U.S. intervention in Guatemala: Realist, revisionist, and postrevisionist perspectives.” The History Teacher 34 (1): 61–74.

40.

Watson

Hilbourne A.

2015 “Grenada: Non-capitalist path and the derailment of a social democratic revolution,” pp. 121-151 in Grenade

Wendy

(ed.), The Grenada Revolution: Reflections and Lessons. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Regionalism and Revolution: CARICOM and the Grenada Revolution

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References