Between Self-Determination and Dependency: Jamaica's Foreign Relations, 1972-1989

This study examined the foreign relations of Jamaica during a period of seventeen years, from 1972 to 1989. Necessarily it had to be selective in its analysis of a number of aspects and issues circumscribing and characterizing the policies of the two governments which led the country at that time. The segmentation of this study was not effected in an arbitrary manner; rather it was subject to both compulsion and deliberate choice. The highly secretive conduct of Jamaican foreign affairs, which in itself is part of the reason for a number of inefficiencies, ruled out a research design based on the dynamics of diplomatic interaction and the analysis of diplomatic notes and bargaining processes. Moreover, this approach was considered to be inapt for the analysis of the foreign relations of a relatively small social formation. In contrast to large nations, where the particular twists and turns of external relations are often determined to a considerable extent by bureaucratic politics, i.e. action in and interaction between different branches of government, the foreign policies of smaller nations emerge primarily from their particular societal context and more direct interaction between policymakers and society (or influential sectors thereof). ¹

It was the primary objective of this study to examine the character of Jamaica's dependency with regard to her foreign policy, assuming that it is a consequence and expression of this dependency and that in addressing this dependency in one or the other way, it has, so far, not carried the country ahead in terms of either economic development and social well being, or national self-determination in the conduct of external affairs.

-154-