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Business & Economics Economic History

Imperial Power and Regional Trade

The Caribbean Basin Initiative

edited by Abigail B. Bakan, Colin Leys & David Cox

Publisher
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Initial publish date
May 1993
Category
Economic History, 20th Century, General
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780889208865
    Publish Date
    Jan 2006
    List Price
    $32.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780889202207
    Publish Date
    May 1993
    List Price
    $34.99

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Description

The election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States in November 1980 opened a new chapter in international relations; U.S. foreign policy shifted from an alliance-based, consensual approach to one based on a more overt use of its immense economic and, above all, military power. This policy entailed some stark choices for the U.S.A.’s allies and neighbours and, above all, for the small countries of Central America and the Caribbean.
This revealing book tells the story of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), through which the new assertion of U.S. hegemony in the region was expressed. The CBI entitled “friendly” countries of the region (i.e., excluding Cuba, pre-invasion Grenada and Nicaragua) to military and economic aid plus incentives, modelled on the so-called “Puerto Rican miracle,” so as to reorient their trade towards the U.S.A. The authors carefully compare the claims made for the CBI with its underlying political objectives and examine its actual impact on regional development through detailed case studies of the Eastern Caribbean and Trinidad.
Also examined are the impact of the CBI on Caribbean regional integration and the responses of Canada and Britain, the two other major countries with long-standing political and economic interests in the Caribbean. What emerges from this investigation is the way the CBI reflects the U.S.A.’s historic quest for regional dominance, rather than a new era in Caribbean development.

About the authors

Contact WLU Press for information about this author.

Abigail B. Bakan's profile page

Colin Leys is an emeritus professor of political studies at Queen's University, Canada. He previously taught at the universities of Oxford, Makerere (Uganda), Nairobi, Sussex, and Sheffield, and held visiting appointments at Chicago and Carleton (Ottawa).

Colin Leys' profile page

David Cox's profile page