This study examines some operational military issues involving the Caribbean Basin, and it reflects the broader concern that answers to operational military questions should depend heavily on answers to more fundamental questions about why and how the United States should be interested in this complex, unstable region. Based on an examination of current trends as well as historical experience since promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine, the study advances a conceptual framework that identifies underlying geostrategic principles for guiding U.S. policy in the Basin. The study then proposes specific measures for developing an integrated political, economic, and military strategy that would advance U.S. interests and meet the interests of Basin neighbors.

Since the end of the Cold War, security concerns in the Caribbean have changed from containment of communism to transnational threats such as drugs, illegal migration and natural disasters. This text analyzes the situation and puts forward a framework for a cooperative regional security system.

This book is a concise overview of the recent history of U.S.-Central American relations. Part of the Contemporary Inter-American Relations series edited by Jorge Dominguez and Rafael Fernandez de Castro, it focuses on the relations between the U.S. and this region since the end of the Cold War. The volume considers economic relations between the two regions, presenting pertinent information on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). It also looks at political issues such as military cooperation, security issues, the drug trade and organized crime, democracy in the region, and migration. Finally, it concludes with an assessment of the direction US-Central American relations are taking at present, moving beyond the black-and-white challenges of Soviet domination in the region to address post-9/11 security concerns. The United States and Central America will be of interest to students and scholars of foreign policy, Latin American politics and politics and international relations in general.

CONTENTSPrefaceComplexity, Change, and ChallengeThe 1980s in RetrospectGeopoliticsMilitarizationInterventionInstabilityThe Changing Strategic EnvironmentMeaning of SecurityGlobal Military and Political PowerEconomic RelationshipsRethinking Policy PrioritiesTerritorial DisputesCaribbean GeonarcoticsTrafficking PatternsModus OperandiNational CountermeasuresRegional and International CountermeasuresSecurity CollaborationWhy Collaborate?Regional Security SystemStrengthening DemocracyConclusionAppendix: Caribbean Security Who?s WhoAcronyms and AbbreviationsAbout the Author

This comprehensive work on security in the English-speaking Caribbean, offers a wealth of information about the history, politics, economics and geography of the entire region. The author examines security problems in the region as a geopolitical unit, not on a selective case-study basis, as is usually done. He assesses Caribbean security within a theoretical framework where four factors are critical: perceptions of the political elites; capabilities of the states; the geopolitics of the area; and the ideological orientations of the parties in power. Political and economic issues are judged to be as relevant to security as military factors. The author identifies safeguards which countries in the region may take in the coming decade.