Mission Statement

The Caribbean Journal of International Relations & Diplomacy is a collaborative effort between the Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies and the Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its fundamental raison d’être is to make a unique contribution to both intellectual and practical debates in the region, providing timely analysis of topical regional and international affairs, as well as a distinctively Caribbean perspective on global issues. Its overarching remit is also to bridge the divide between the theory and practice of international relations in the Caribbean, by appealing to – and stimulating dialogue between – academics and practitioners alike.

The journal will be published quarterly – in March, June, September and December – and it will be disseminated in both hard copy and in open-access, electronic format. We have assembled an editorial board of distinguished academics and practitioners, and our aim is to contribute to the deepening of linkages and the creation of synergies between both communities.

Our mandate, moreover, is genuinely interdisciplinary, in both intellectual scope and spirit of purpose. We aim to offer a wide variety of debate and discussion, both academic and more practical, and therefore will seek to provide a number of different types of article: original peer-reviewed academic research papers; think pieces, policy briefs, commentaries, public statements and research notes; invited essays, interviews and reflections; and the very best work by IIR scholars.

To this end, the editors invite submissions which take a broad approach to the study of IR and the Caribbean. We have no particular methodological or ideological preferences; we simply request well-researched, rigorous articles which speak to the Caribbean problématique in interesting and thought-provoking ways, or which offer a Caribbean perspective about global issues. We are especially interested in making links between theory and policy, and contributing to discussion across and between different communities, and to this end we encourage all contributors to write in an accessible and concise fashion, free from excessive jargon. Articles which speak to the Caribbean as a whole, and incorporate analysis of the non-independent parts of the region – as well as Latin America and the broader Global South – are especially welcome, as are those which examine developing country diplomacy and engagement on the global stage.

The Editors, St Augustine and Port-of-Spain, March 2013.