CARICOM and Security Governance: Probing the Limits of Regional Cooperation

• Author: Jessica Byron
• Pages: 438-451

CARICOM AND SECURITY GOVERNANCE:

PROBING THE LIMITS OF REGIONAL COOPERATION

Jessica Byron

Introduction

This chapter examines the concept

of security governance and discusses its

applicability to the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM). It explores whether CARICOM

f‌its the prof‌ile of a “security provider”, given

the very different geopolitical circumstances

of the Caribbean region and the capabilities

of the organisation itself compared with those

of the European Union. Specif‌ically, this

comparison is made in the context of Emil

Kirchner’s suggestion that the EU’s form of

security governance may offer a model that

can be transferred to other regions (Kirchner,

2006).

The Chapter begins by discussing the

concept of governance in a security context

and matching this notion against our

understanding of the origins, structure and

functions of CARICOM. This is followed by

a survey of the various threats that pervade

the regional environment and the multi-level

response strategies that have been adopted by

the states concerned. Finally, CARICOM’s

involvement (or lack of it) is examined in

seven instances of intra-state or inter-state

turbulence between 1983 and the present.

This material serves as the background against

which CARICOM’s capacity to carry out the

various elements of governance in conf‌lict

prevention, peacekeeping and peace-building

is assessed.

I. Security Governance

In Kirchner’s conceptual discussion, he

shows the similarities and the differences

between the idea of a “security community”,

proposed initially by Karl Deutsch (1957) and

further developed by Constructivist thinkers

in the 1990s, and “security governance”. In

a security community, during a prolonged

period of cooperative interaction, the

behaviour and values of the states and societies

are modif‌ied to the point where there is a stable

environment and “people maintain dependable

expectations of peaceful change” (Adler and

Barnett 1998: 30, cited in Kirchner, 2006:

950). Security governance goes beyond the

above in suggesting that security is maintained

at multiple levels by a variety of state and non-

state actors. In the case of the European Union,

it goes beyond maintaining stability within the

community; it also encompasses the stability

of the surrounding external environment.1

Governance involves the coordination of

policies and actions, the management and

regulation of issue areas. Security functions, as

outlined by Boutros Ghali in 1992 in his report

to the United Nations Security Council on the

security roles of the United Nations, involve

conf‌lict prevention, peace enforcement/peace-

keeping and peace-building activities.

Kirchner concludes that the EU’s

performance in these different areas of activity

qualif‌ies it to be considered a security provider,

an institution that generates greater stability

in its surroundings. However, despite all the

31