The Caribbean Through a Different Lens

Challenged Sovereignty will certainly force the average reader to look at the Caribbean through a different lens. The typical visitor to the region views this part of the world through stereotypical rose-tinted glasses seeing only sand, sea, and sun. Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith gives us another perspective, the one hidden from view behind the walls of the sprawling all-inclusive resorts that dot the islands.

Most tomes like this are intimidating, replete with academic-speak that is difficult to decipher, but not this one. Challenged Sovereignty is a scholarly work, yet it is easy to read and accessible to those curious about the topic. It follows the approach used in most academic work — stating the problem then sign-posting each chapter with hints of what’s to come in later sections.

Griffith defines challenged sovereignty as: “A condition where the state’s vulnerability is exacerbated by internal and external developments that compromise the ability of the supreme authority of the state to promulgate and execute domestic and foreign policy in its own deliberate judgement and on its own terms… it is a circumstance that develops over time.”

PROBLEMS WITHOUT PASSPORTS

The underlying focus of this book is Problems Without Passports (PWP), which Griffith probes from a fresh viewpoint. PWPs are activities such as drug trafficking, crime, terrorism, and cyber threats that undermine the sovereignty of any state. In this case, the author analyzes how the Caribbean became a magnet for these problems based on globalization, geography, geopolitical importance, loose borders, political and economic factors.

So, which Caribbean islands are affected? The simple answer is, all. What distinguishes them is the gravity of these negative factors, says Griffith. With charts, concrete examples, and references, the author gives readers detailed descriptions and statistics to support his claims.

Looking at drug trafficking, what he calls the Geonarcotics framework, Griffith utilizes a chart which clearly shows the four factors that push the drug trade: narcotics, geography, power, and politics. These in turn stimulate four main problems: drug production, consumption-abuse, trafficking, and money laundering (19 Caribbean nations are among the major money laundering jurisdictions worldwide). Importantly, he stresses that the proximity of the Caribbean to South America (a major drug supplier) and North America (the largest drug-consuming nation) contributes to the region’s risk. These factors work together to threaten the security and sovereignty of the state.

Another pillar of his study, crime, is dissected and shared in bite-sized chunks for ease of understanding. Griffith gives readers the overall picture of the crime statistics and its relationship to drugs noting that the region’s countries with high crime profiles, particularly homicide, are the same ones noted for high drug activity. Among them: Jamaica, Dominical Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, the

Bahamas, St. Kitts and Nevis. Charts for some of these counties highlight the troubling rates over a decade.

Criminality is contextualized with a focus on the social and economic costs to the particular country. He looks at Jamaica’s high murder rate for example and the importation of mainly US-sourced illegal firearms into the country. Of course, Jamaica is not the only country affected by the surge of illegal guns; the Bahamas, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines are examples of other states. How does the state control or police these activities? Action plans created by CARICOM leaders are discussed.

Interestingly, Griffith brings into focus two high profile cases that demonstrate the far-reaching effects of crime, violence, and drugs on citizens. The 2010 Dudus Affair in Jamaica and the 2011 State of Emergency in Trinidad and Tobago are detailed and analyzed with a fine tooth comb. Linkages between crime, politics, and power become evident.

TERRORISM AND CYBERSECURITY

Although the threat of terrorism is low in the Caribbean, with less than 20 incidents recorded in the region between 1967 and 1995, Griffiths provides a chart that details these occurrences. Interesting reading for those who had no clue about these kinds of events, including myself.

The author defines the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack as “a defining moment”, a time when CARICOM leaders put out a statement voicing their concern for the region. He analyzes the region’s resource/material wealth that must be protected — Guyana’s oil reserves and gold, Suriname’s uranium, Cuba’s silver are examples. In the same context, he also discusses the region’s most important strategic waterway, the Panama Canal. Of course, the Caribbean’s major source of revenue, tourism, also comes into play as a valuable asset that must be protected from terrorism.

Because we live in a globalized world, cybersecurity has become a huge concern. Thus, the Caribbean IS also prone to cyberattacks, says Griffith. He explains that regional governments, military, educational, and medical organizations collect and store masses of personal and highly classified documents which must be secure from such attacks. He discusses specific cases that affected some Caribbean countries and how they were dealt with. Unfortunate, says Griffith, the region is low on the scale of cyber security.

So what’s the answer to Problems Without Passports? How do we secure Caribbean sovereignty? The answer is certainly not clear cut, says Griffith. The region has partnered with non-Caribbean states to help them tackle the problems; those who are motivated by geopolitical interests — The United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the European Union.

Griffith’s advice? “Caribbean security elites and practitioners should embrace proactive national and regional engagement in order to better cope with extant security challenges, lest the science of muddling through, which is practiced in some places, becomes the regional norm and undermines the security and sovereignty of nations in the region