US foreign policy and national development in the Caribbean, 1960-1976

Evans, Sheila Helen

Abstract

The Caribbean has long been an area of intense US interest and activity. Yet at the same time, the United States has failed to articulate a distinctive Caribbean policy, separate from its policy towards Latin America. In part, this failure has resulted from the practical difficulty of determining a definition of "the Caribbean" - US policies towards the different countries within the Caribbean region have varied according to time and perspective.

This thesis attempts to determine the exact nature of United States foreign policy towards the Caribbean during the period 1960 to 1976. It starts from the assumption that the Caribbean has been included within US-Latin American policy in the articulation of policy statements and objectives, but that US policy has differed in terms of both its implementation and impact on Caribbean countries. US foreign policy is, therefore, examined from a liberal-democratic perspective in terms of the distinction between national interest and development objectives and policy actions, looking at their impact on the Caribbean national development process - in particular, on economic and political development. In attempting to assess the coherence of US policy, the differences within US policy are examined with respect to two sub-groups in the Caribbean - the English speaking and the Spanish speaking countries.

Three specific areas of US policy are examined: first, security policy - looking at both hemispheric defence and internal security policy, military and police assistance programmes; second, economic policy - looking at development assistance, regional integration, private investment, trade and migration; and third, diplomatic policy - looking at US policy towards dependent countries, trades unions, political parties, human rights and different forms of government. The continuity of US policy is assessed by comparing the Democratic presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson with the Republican administrations of Nixon and Ford, and the key feature of US-Caribbean policy - the primacy of security interests - is finally distinguished.

Citation

Evans, S. H. (1984). US foreign policy and national development in the Caribbean, 1960-1976. (Thesis). University of Hull. Retrieved from https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4215528

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Apr 8, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 23, 2023
• Keywords: Politics
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4215528
• Additional Information: Department of Politics, The University of Hull
• Award Date: Dec 1, 1984