ASSESSMENTS

How the Caribbean Faded From the Geopolitical Scene

Jul 5, 2017 | 09:15 GMT

Few regions on the planet have declined in strategic relevance as dramatically as the Caribbean. Over the course of 400 years, the Caribbean Basin evolved from a key area of competition for the European powers to a geopolitically uneventful space dominated by the United States.

Cuba has managed to build a trade relationship with socialist Venezuela by exchanging security and medical services for low cost fuel. Once a hotbed of struggle for the European powers, the Caribbean is now a bunch of isolated mini-states, many with struggling economies.

(IStock)

Forecast Highlights

The Caribbean region evolved from a battleground for the great European powers to a geopolitically uneventful area within the space of four centuries.
European dominance left the region with a hodgepodge of small, often economically unviable countries.
The area is strategically vital to the security of the United States, but its immediate relevance to U.S. policymakers is, and will remain, low.

Few regions on the planet have declined in strategic relevance as dramatically as the Caribbean. Over the course of 400 years, the Caribbean Basin evolved from a key area of competition for the European powers to a geopolitically uneventful space dominated by the United States. Much like Latin America, the region is a collection of states that developed separately from one another. Divided by the sea, as well as language and cultural barriers left by European authorities, each country created its own economy and political system. And now many of these isolated mini-states face economic challenges posed by their small size and limited economic options....

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