Vulnerabilities and Security Challenges of Caribbean Small States

Abstract

The vulnerabilities, challenges and prospects for the Caribbean region are unique and specific to the region's states. The Caribbean can be defined by geographical, ethno-historical and geo-political frameworks. Shelton Nicholls (2009) depicts the geographic definition of the Caribbean as an archipelagic group of islands while Benn and Hall (2000) describe Caribbean states in ethno-historical terms, being the islands and the adjacent coastal communities in South and Central America who share a comparable history, culture and ethnicity. This paper focuses primarily on the small states of the Caribbean region.

This paper analyses all state security in the 21st century. The discourse centres on the reconfigured framework for the analysis of security in small states in the Caribbean. The paper argues that the inherent vulnerabilities of these small states perpetuate the already substantial and comprehensive security agenda facing these states. The aim is to evaluate Caribbean small states' perceptions of security within the framework of hemispheric challenges, and its applicability to the strengthening/enhancement of regional responses to such challenges.