KINGSTON, Jamaica – Security and economic issues effecting the Caribbean region are the focus of a new journal established by University of the West Indies (UWI), Kingston, Jamaica; the Jamaican Defence Force (JDF); and U.S. Naval War College (NWC), Newport, Rhode Island.
The “Caribbean Journal of Strategic and Security Studies” was officially published and released online April 4, with the print version to soon follow from UWI.
This journal is the first of its kind for the region and publishes academic papers from and for security leaders, government officials, thought leaders and others, according to Larry McCabe, NWC professor in National Security Affairs.
The prototype was unveiled earlier this year in Jamaica at a ceremony that included Andrew Holness, prime minister of Jamaica; Maj. Gen. Rocky Meade, chief of defence staff, JDF; U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph DiSalvo, deputy commander, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM); Luis G. Moreno, U.S. ambassador to Jamaica; McCabe; and representatives from UWI.
The journal will allow regional players to better understand the security issues they face.
"The Caribbean Journal of Strategic and Security Studies is destined to be an invaluable catalyst for an eventual successful campaign to improve regional stability and security," said DiSalvo, from SOUTHCOM, the U.S. Department of Defense designation for the Caribbean and South American area of responsibility.
The first edition also includes a prologue by Holness and a forward by U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, commander, SOUTHCOM.
The idea to stand up the publication evolved over time and developed from several sources.
For years, representatives from countries in the region have attended the Jamaican Junior Command and Staff College, an annual seminar on strategy and development at Moneague College. A portion of those seminars involved attendees breaking into groups and each group writing a paper that deals with a security issue in the region.
Organizers soon realized they had assembled some very important regional information that should be shared with all nations that have an interest in the area.
“We looked at the papers that were coming in and realized that we had some really good stuff here,” said McCabe. “So we had all these papers, UWI and us, and we said ‘We need to get these out to the region.’”
There was no existing platform for getting the information out, so the group decided to publish the papers themselves. The resulting, somewhat informal, effort was called the “Moneague Papers.”
After two years of publishing the Moneague Papers, McCabe and the group decided it was time develop a more formal, academic effort, and the Caribbean Journal of Strategic Studies was born.
The journal can be accessed at
http://www.bookfusion.com/store/JDF.