Jamaica: Radicalism in the Caribbean - The Illusory Threat to American Strategic Interests.
Abstract
The occasionally-strident rhetoric by which Third World leaders establish their nations' allegiance to radical movements and membership in the Third World is often interpreted as symptomatic of threats to American security interests. Is this interpretation correct. In his examination of Jamaican politics and public policy, the author suggests that such a conclusion is premature. He cites contrary evidence which suggests that symbolic rhetoric flourishes within states which concomitantly display economic and international policies characterized by moderation, economic pragmatism, and a firm understanding of the dynamics of real politics. He notes that the bilateral face of such a nation's policy supports the contention that verbal excesses manifest less a threat than might otherwise be perceived. Closer inspection of the political world of Jamaica supports an even more significant conclusion: the rhetorical flourishes can be translated into actual dangers with great difficulty because the environmental context in which the nation's politics operates, delineates, and confines actual diplomatic and economic operation. Characterized by an institutionalizing party system, quiescent mass, charismatic leadership, conservatizing labor movement, administratively-oriented bureaucarcy, and confining geopolitical milieu, Jamaica's capacity to mobilize to meet the goals intrinsic in its rhetoric is absent. Unless extraneous forces were to dramatically overwhelm its domestic context, Jamaica's foreign policy is confined by the state's own internal limitations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 15, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA073108
Entities
People
- Craig Harris