Agenda Setting and Regionalism in the Greater Caribbean: Responses to 9/11

• Author: Norman Girvan
• Pages: 310-333

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Caribbean Security in the Age of Terror

Agenda Setting and

Regionalism in the Greater

Caribbean: Responses to 9/11

Norman Girvan1

Introduction

The Greater Caribbean2 has a total population of 240 million spread

over 25 independent states and 13 non-independent territories. It is the region

of the developing world of closest proximity to the United States and it has

close economic, social, cultural and political ties to that country. This was

reflected in the significant human and economic costs incurred by countries

in the region from the terrorist attacks in the United States of September 11,

2001. In the aftermath of, the attacks, political relations were shaped by the

character and content of the US response, with security issues taking centre

stage.

While the security agendas of the US and those of regional countries

overlapped in many respects, significant differences in emphasis and

perspective became evident. Human security, in its many dimensions, was

counter-posed to a uni-dimensional perspective that focuses on countering

terrorism. Political negotiation of these issues was conditioned by the reality

of asymmetries in power in US-Caribbean and intra-Caribbean relations

associated with the wide differences in size and economic strength among

countries and with the political fragmentation of the region. In examining

these issues, this chapter looks first at the nature of the social and economic

linkages between the Greater Caribbean and the United States. We then review

political responses to the crisis to show the context in which differing

perspectives on security emerged. In the third part, the problems for tourism

created by 9/11 are examined as a case study of regional responses to the

crisis. Finally, we offer some concluding observations.

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Agenda Setting and Regionalism in the Caribbean

Ties That Bind: The US-Caribbean Nexus

September 11, 2001 resulted in significant loss of human life and a virtual

meltdown in the US travel industry. It tipped the sputtering US economy

more deeply into recession. Key elements in the resulting ‘war on terror’

were immigration monitoring and control; border controls and transport

security; and the link between narco-trafficking, money laundering and

terrorism. These events impacted significantly on the countries of the Greater

Caribbean as a consequence of their close linkages with the US in migration,

tourism, trade and investment.

Region / Country of birth No. % LAC % of the country’s

national population

Total Latin America and the Caribbean 9,681,024 100.00 2.28

Greater Caribbean 7,820,462 80.78 N.A.

Mexico 4,298,014 44.40

5.16

Other Mesoamerica 1,093,929 11.28 3.91

Costa Rica 39,438 0.41 1.29

El Salvador 465,433 4.81 9.11

Guatemala 225,739 2.33 2.58

Honduras 108,923 1.13 2.32

Nicaragua 168,659 1.74 4.41

Panama 85,737 0.86 3.58

Insular Caribbean 1,803,087 18.64 N.A.

Cuba 736,971 7.63 N.A.

Barbados 43,015 0.44 16.74

Haiti 225,393 2.33 3.26

Jamaica 334,140 3.45 14.1

Dominican Republic 347,858 3.59 4.89

Trinidad & Tobago 115,710 1.20 9.52

Caribbean / South America 442,036 4.57 0.8

Colombia 286,124 2.96 0.08

Guyana 120,698 1.25 15.18

Venezuela 35,214 0.36 0.18

Source: Miguel Villa & Jorge P. Martinez, ‘International Migration in LAC: Social,

Demographic and Economic Traits’, Table 1, p. 38, in SELA Capítulos, no 65,

May–August 2002.

Table 12.1

United States Population Born in Latin American and Caribbean

Countries, 1990 Census