Prospects for a Regional Security System in the Eastern Caribbean

The island of Montserrat, though still a British colony, has demonstrated a keen desire to involve itself formally with the affairs of nearby independent states. It must therefore be included as well.

Barbados' level of political and economic advancement had given it the confidence to seek independence of Britain in 1966. Grenada took a more uncertain plunge with Eric Gairy in 1974. The others followed somewhat later. Dominica (1978); St. Lucia (1979); St. Vincent-Grenadines (1979); Antigua-Barbuda (1981); St. Kitts-Nevis (1983).

In Belize, on the other hand, where the military threat from Guatemala has remained overt and stated, the British have felt compelled to maintain an armed presence in order to preserve the territorial integrity of this recently independent state.

See Anthony E. Thorndike, 'The Concept of Associated Statehood with Special Reference to the Eastern Caribbean', unpublished PhD thesis, University of London (1979).

S. Barry Buzan , People, States and Fear (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), Chapter 2.

Ibid, p. 67.

George Quester , 'Defending the Micro-States', International Security (Vol. 8, No. 3, Fall 1983), pp. 160-75.

See for example, Embert J. Hendrickson , 'The Eastern Caribbean's newest states: no left turn', The World Today (Vol. 37, No. 11, November 1981), pp. 441-7.

Caribbean Contact (Barbados), September 1984.

For a recent academic work largely representative of this view see Anthony Payne , Paul Sutton and Tony Thorndike , Grenada: Revolution and Invasion (London: Croom Helm, 1984).

This fact was confirmed in Grenada alone by a public opinion poll taken in December 1983. The poll was supervised by academics from the St. Augustine Research Associates of Trinidad and Tobago. See Latin American Regional Reports: Caribbean (London), 30 March 1984. Moreover, since the invasion, four Eastern Caribbean governments (excluding Grenada) have held elections. Three of them (Antigua-Barbuda, St. Kitts-Nevis and Dominica) were re-elected. The fourth, in St. Vincent-Grenadines lost to an opponent who had been the first to publicly suggest intervention in Grenada.

For two recent accounts which consider Soviet and Cuban activity in the region, see: W. Raymond Duncan , 'Soviet Interests in Latin America', Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs (Vol. 26, No. 2, May 1984), pp. 163-98; also Jiri and Virginia Valenta , 'Leninism in Grenada', Problems of Communism (Vol. 33, No. 4, July-August 1984), pp. 1-23.

If one accepts the authenticity of the documents seized by the Americans after the invasion, what emerges is a remarkably detailed account of extensive secret political and military intervention in the region. See Grenada: A Preliminary Report, United States Department of State and Department of Defense, Washington, DC, 1983. See also the more comprehensive Michael Ledeen and Herbert Romstein (eds.), Grenada Documents: An Overview and Selection ( Washington, DC: US Department of Defense, 1984).

Insight (London), September 1983.

Insight (London), January 1979.

Probably the best summary account of what happened is found in Keesing's Contemporary Archives (Vol. 27, 1981), pp. 31179-80.

Caribbean Contact (Barbados), November 1984.

A recent study has attempted, in part, to show that there is no evidence to indicate that the Grenada PRG intended to destablise regional governments. See Peter Shearman , 'The Soviet Union and Grenada under the New Jewel Movement', International Affairs (Vol. 61, No. 4, Autumn 1985), pp. 661-73. Yet, in making his reasoned assessment, Shearman is forced to concede that 'it is possible to identify a group of hard-line, staunchly pro-Soviet Leninists in the NJM who, following Bishop's murder, may have taken a more radical line in support of revolutions in the Caribbean' (p. 668; emphasis in the original.). This is, of course, quite compatible with the notion that a conspicuous attack on the other islands in support of long-term revolutionary goals would not have been likely. Assisting the world revolutionary process' by covert support for internal challenges is less inconceivable.

In February 1984 the Memorandum of Understanding was endorsed by the newly independent St. Kitts-Nevis. Grenada, under its recently elected government, became the seventh member in February 1985.

For a summary of the main options reported to have been discussed at the Caricom summit in November 1982 see David Jessop , 'The Caribbean', in Sheila Harden (ed.), Small is Dangerous: Micro States in a Macro World (London: Frances Pinter, 1985), pp. 148-72 (especially pp. 166-7).

Daily Nation (Barbados), 13 August 1984.

Latin American Regional Report: Caribbean ( London), 30 March 1984; The Financial Times , 16 May 1984.

Insight (London), March 1985.

Insight (London). July 1985.

See the address by the Rt. Hon. Baroness Young , Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to the West India Committee luncheon, 31 October 1984 (mimeograph), pp. 8-9.

The Daily Telegraph, 25 October 1984.

The cost structure seems to have been finalised according to the ratio of 40 per cent from Barbados and 10 per cent each from the other six pact members.

The International Herald Tribune, 31 January and 6 July 1984.

The Observer, 5 February 1984.

The International Herald Tribune, 6 July 1984.

Daily Nation (Barbados), 27 August 1984. The Financial Times, 26 October 1984.

The International Herald Tribune, 25 June 1981.

See K.J. Holsti , International Politics: A Framework for Analysis (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall , 1967), Chapter 16.

S.E. Finer , The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics ( Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976).

Report of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Vulnerability, Small States in the Global Society, London. 1985.

See Sheila Harden (ed.), op. cit. Chapter 4.

Ibid.

The idea of having an Eastern Caribbean police force for example, was suggested when most the islands were becoming independent. The Guardian, 26 March 1979.

Graham Norton , 'Defending the Eastern Caribbean', The World Today (Vol. 40, No. 6, June 1984), pp. 254-60; and Jonathan Alford , 'Security Dilemmas of Small States'. The World Today (Vol. 40. Nos. 8-9, August-September 1984), pp. 363-9.

Barbados House of Assembly, Hansard, 18 December 1979, p. 3168, quoted in Norton , op. cit, p. 259.

It will be remembered that France acceded to the Dominican government's request for arms and specialist personnel when the country was threatened by the attempted coup in December 1981. The French government is also reported to have been prepared to commit troops from neighbouring Martinique, had it been asked to do so. See Insight (London), January 1982.