ABSTRACT
This chapter examines security policies and initiatives in Barbados, the OECS (except Montserrat, which is still a British dependency), and Jamaica. These countries have more in common with each other than with those surveyed in the previous chapter. For one thing, they all endorsed and participated in the 1983 Grenada intervention; the countries examined in chapter four did not. In addition, as noted in chapter two, Eastern Caribbean states have faced similar security challenges. They also have a greater degree of capability deficiency compared with the rest of the region. Moreover, the leaders in these countries have demonstrated considerable convergence in their definition of the area’s security situation. Finally, it was they who, in 1982, took the initiative to form a collective security mechanism, the Regional Security System (RSS).
