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Caribbean Islands Relations with the United States
In the early 1980s, the Adams government's diplomatic pressure
on Bishop's Grenada, its participation in the 1983 intervention,
and its advocacy of a Regional Defence Force were judged by a
number of observers to represent a tilt from a nonaligned policy
direction to one favoring United States security interests. It was
clear that Adams's advocacy of enhanced security mechanisms, which
came to be known as the "Adams Doctrine," dovetailed with the main
thrust of Reagan administration policy in the Caribbean Basin.
However, the Adams Doctrine probably was motivated more by the
then-prime minister's interpretation of previous events, e.g., the
1979 Grenadian and Nicaraguan revolutions, than by United States,
i.e., Reagan administration, pressure.
Barbadian relations with the United States have always been
influenced by economic factors, especially trade and tourism (see
Economy, this section). The Barrow government, in a foreign policy
statement issued in 1987, recognized the importance of these
relations and acknowledged the contribution of the United States
Agency for International Development and the Peace Corps to
projects in the fields of health education, housing, and
agriculture. At the same time, Barrow chided both Caribbean and
United States policymakers for perpetuating excessive reliance by
Caribbean countries on the United States. He expressed a preference
for greater "multilateralism" in this regard, apparently a
reference to the need for increased coordination of aid programs
among the United States, Canada, and the European Economic
Community (EEC). Consistent with his earlier positions, Barrow also
argued for greater Caribbean self-reliance and improved
intraregional cooperation as a hedge against dependency.
Data as of November 1987
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