Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T18:50:42.367Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Caribbean: Myths and Realities for the 1990s*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Andres Sorbin
Andres Sorbin*
Affiliation:
The Schools of Sociology and International Relations of the Central University of Venezuela
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Jaribbean scholars and analysts frequently point out that, despite its predominantly insular nature, it is not geography that accounts for the complexities and division of the Caribbean but, rather, history. Contemporary politics and international relations only confirm this judgment. As a result, and however unwillingly, we have become accustomed to viewing the region through narrow definitions and categories which, even though validated over time, contrast with the region's geographic, historical, political and economic reality.In the process, these limited views have given rise to persistent myths regarding both the region and its future.

Throughout its history, many names have been given to the area: from Antilles to West Indies to Caribbean Basin. The varying colonial contexts, as well as the diverse cultural and political assumptions of the main state actors involved in the area, have ascribed a wide variety of names to the region.

When speaking of the Caribbean, and taking into account the different historical assumptions and perceptions, three distinct definitions generally arise.

Type
What's Ahead for the Caribbean?
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , Summer 1990 , pp. 121 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This article is based upon a keynote address presented at the Annual Conference of the European Association of Caribbean and Central American Studies (ASERCCA), 8 October 1989, Aix-en-Provence, France

References

Boersner, D. (1978) “Una estratégia tercermundista para el Caribe.” Nueva Sociedad 77: 54-63.Google Scholar
Braveboy-Wagner, J. (1989a) “The Foreign Policy of the English- Speaking Caribbean: Suggestions for Greater Effectiveness.” Paper presented at the 15th International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Miami (FL), 4-6 December.Google Scholar
J., Braveboy-Wagner (1989b) The Caribbean in World Affairs. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Caribbean Contact (Bridgetown) (1989a) “Why the US is losing the Drug War.” (July): 4-5.Google Scholar
Caribbean Contact (Bridgetown) (1989b) “Drug Barons Test Manley.” (May): 2.Google Scholar
Caribbean Insight (1989) “CARICOM Leaders Set the Pace for Drive to Integration.” (August): 3-5.Google Scholar
Casanova, V. (1987) “Venezuela hacia el Caribe y la cooperación Sur- Sur,” pp. 211–227 in Andres Serbin (ed.) Venezuela y las relaciones internacionales en la Cuenca del Caribe.Caracas, Venezuela: Instituto Latinoamericano de Investigaciones Sociales (ILDIS/AVECA).Google Scholar
Child, J. (1985) “Variables para la política de Estados Unidos en la Cuenca del Caribe en la decada del ochenta: seguridad,” pp. 145–190 in James Greene and Brent Scowcroft (eds.) Intereses accidentales y politica de EEUU en el Caribe. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Grupo Editor Latinoamericano.Google Scholar
Cline, R. (1980) World Power Trends and US Foreign Policy for the 1980s. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Daily Journal (Caracas) (1989a) “Caribbean Strategic Narcotics Gateway.” 20 September.Google Scholar
Daily Journal (1989b) “Cap to Caribbean Economic Community Meeting.” (7 August): 4.Google Scholar
Demas, W.(1979) “Foreword,” in Richard Millet and Marvin Will (eds.) The Restless Caribbean: Changing Patterns of International Relations. New York, NY: Praeger.Google Scholar
Dembisz, A. (1979) “Definición geográfica de la Cuenca del Caribe,” pp. 11-30 in Departamento de Geografia Economica del Instituto de Geografia de la Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, Premisas geograficas de la integracion socioeconomica del Caribe. Havana, Cuba: Ed. Cientifico-Tecnica.Google Scholar
Frohmann, A. (1989) “Los nuevos parametros de la política internacional Sovietica.” Cono Sur (Santiago) 8 , 5 (September-October): 17–22.Google Scholar
GaravtñI, S. (1989) “The United States, Latin America and Japan: A Virtuous Circle.” Caribbean Affairs (Port-of-Spain) 2 , 3 (July-September): 9–21.Google Scholar
Garcia-Muniz, H. (1988) La Estrategia de Estados Unidos y la militarizacion del Caribe. Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Estudios del Caribe, Universidad de Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Greene, J. and B. Scowcroft (eds.) (1985) Intereses en el Caribe occidentales y política de Eeuu en el Caribe. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Grupo Editor Latinoamericano.Google Scholar
Jaramillo, I. (1989) “Problemas de seguridad interamericana.” Paper presented to Taller Internacional Paz, Seguridad y Desarrollo en Centroamerica, Huatulco, Mexico (may). New York: International Peace Academy (IPA)/Centro –de Estudios de America (CEA), La Habana.Google Scholar
Jaramillo, I. (1984) “Medio Oriente y Cuenca del Caribe: ¿fuerza de paz o de intervención?” Cuadernos de Nuestra Amárica (La Habana) 1 , 1 (January):78–106.Google Scholar
Maingot, A. (1984) “Perceptions as Realities: The United States, Venezuela, and Cuba in the Caribbean,” pp. 63–81 in Heraldo Muñoz and Joseph Tulchin (eds.) Latin American Nations in World Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Maira, L. (1989) Los intereses politicosy estrategicos de Estados Unidos en América del Sur (working paper). Santiago, Chile: Comisión Sudamericana de Paz.Google Scholar
Maira, L. (1983) “Caribbean State Systems and Middle-Status Powers: The Cases of Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba,” pp. 177–204 in Paget Henry and Carl Stone (eds.) The Newer Caribbean: Decolonization, Democracy and Development (Vol. 4 of the Inter-American Politics Series). Philadelphia, PA: Institute for the Study of Human Issues (ISHI).Google Scholar
Manigat, L. (1988) “The Caribbean between Global Horizons and Latin American Perspectives,” pp. 350–351 in Jorge Heine and Leslie Manigat (eds.) The Caribbean and World Politics. New York, NY: Holmes and Meier.Google Scholar
Manigat, L. (1978) “Intervenciones,” pp. 58-60 in E. Mayz Vallenilla et al.(eds.) El Caribe: un mar entre dos mundos. Caracas, Venezuela: Equinoccio.Google Scholar
Martner, G. (1976) “La Cuenca del Caribe: futuro centro de desarolio latinoamericano.” Nueva Sociedad 24: 35-54.Google Scholar
(El) Nacional (Caracas) (1989a) Section A (September): 2.Google Scholar
(El) Nacional (Caracas) (1989b) Section D (March 12): 3.Google Scholar
Rodriguez Beruff, J. (1988) Politica militar y dominación: Puerto Rico en el contexto latinoamericano. Rio Piedras, PR: Editorial Huracan.Google Scholar
Rondon, P. (1988) “El Acuerdo de San José y otras implicaciones petroleras en el Caribe,” pp. 141-156 in José Moreno Colmenares (ed.) El Caribe, objeto de investigación. Caracas, Venezuela: Consejo de Desarrollo Humanistico y Científico, UCV/Fondo Editorial Acta Cientifica.Google Scholar
Serbin, A. (1989a) América Latina y la conexión europea del Caribe nohispánico (Documento de Estudio 1). Santiago, Chile: Comisión Sudamericana de Paz.Google Scholar
Serbin, A. (1989b) “Race and Politics: Relations between the English-Speaking Caribbean and Latin America.” Caribbean Affairs (Port-of-Spain) 2 , 4 (October-December): 146–171.Google Scholar
Serbin, A. (1989c) El Caribe: ¿Zona de paz? Caracas, Venezuela: Nueva Sociedad/Comisión Sudamericana de Paz.Google Scholar
Serbin, A. (1987) Etnicidad, clase y nacion en la cultura politica del Caribe de habla inglesa. Caracas, Venezuela: Academia Nacional de la Historia.Google Scholar
Serbin, A. (1985) “Procesos etnoculturales y percepciones mutuas en el desarrollo de las relaciones entre el Caribe de habla inglesa y America Latina.” Boletin de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe (Amsterdam) 38 (June): 83-98.Google Scholar
Sutton, P. (ed.) (1990) The Eec and the Caribbean. London, England: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sutton, P. 1987) “Political Aspects,” pp. 3–25 in Colin Clarke and Tony Payne (eds.) Politics, Security and Development in Small States. London, England: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Watson, H. (1989) “The Changing Structure of World Capital and Development Options in the Caribbean.” Paper presented to the 2nd meeting of Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) Working Group on International Relations in the Caribbean Basin, Caracas (Venezuela), March.Google Scholar
Yopo, B. (1989) “América del Sur en los nuevos lineamientos de la política exterior Sovietica” (working paper). Santiago, Chile: Comisió n Sudamericana de Paz.Google Scholar
Young, A. and Phillips, D. (eds.) (1986) Militarization in the Non- Hispanic Caribbean. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.Google Scholar