Caribbean security more than military action, says US professor
AN American university professor has suggested that security in the Caribbean extends beyond the confines of traditional military actions and has cited non- traditional areas such as territorial disputes, drugs, terrorism and HIV/AIDS as rising security concerns.
According to Professor Ivelaw Griffith, dean of Florida International University, prior to the 1990s when people talked about security, they were talking about national interest of states. “They were talking about national interest in terms of military power, focusing mostly on external threats,” he told a media luncheon at the University of the West Indies (UWI) last week.
Griffith, who was in the island to attend the UWI, Mona, Research Day activities, argued that some of the greatest challenges for Caribbean states do not emanate from military sources, but from economic factors.
Therefore, he said, when looking at what is relevant to Caribbean as security, “you can’t look for the source of the security challenge only from the external arena because sometimes the enemy is within. It has to do with internal gangs or organised crime within the society”.
According to Professor Griffith, traditional issues included territorial disputes, which create political instability in several states.
In terms of non-traditional issues, Professor Griffith mentioned illegal drugs, which have deleterious effects on the human anatomy and a significant impact on the society.
He also discussed the issue of HIV/AIDS in the context of security concerns.
“You look at the impact of the disease and how it will affect the survival of Caribbean states,” he said. “The effects it will have on the economy and the social fabric of society.”
He proposed that HIV/AIDS be put on the agenda, not as a medical issue, but in its capacity for state survival and delivery of services.
On the matter of terrorism, he said this should be looked at as another non-traditional security issue. “Whether we in the Caribbean are likely to be direct targets of terrorist attacks or not, we are connected to the United States which has, for the last few years, been the primary target of terrorist incidents. Terrorism is not a matter that we should take lightly, particularly as our economies are so intimately tied,” he said.