Search results

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reasons, especially the assertions about the future, given by the US administration under President Reagan, to justify the decision to attack and invade the Caribbean island of Grenada.

The methodology is analysis of existing records and reports on the assertions, events, and decisions leading to the invasion.

The Reagan administration gave three main reasons for the invasion. They claimed that Americans on Grenada, particularly the students attending the St George's University Medical School, would be harmed from continuing social disruption on Grenada; that the militarization of Grenada was intended as a means for the future export of terrorism or revolution to its Caribbean neighbors; and that the planned international airport at Point Salines was intended to be a future Soviet‐Cuban military base. Each was false.

Decision making includes assumptions about the future and invites the use of foresight. Such foresight, of course, can be presumptively true and, thus, useful. But also it can be wrong, sometimes deliberately manipulated, leading to wrongheaded actions and devastating consequences.

An analysis of the 1983 American invasion of Grenada illustrates the power of authority to distort the truth and corrupt morality, processes that re‐occurred 20 years later with much greater consequences in the case of the 2003 American‐led invasion of Iraq.

The case study of the American invasion of Grenada can be used by decision makers and others to improve future decision‐making situations. Before doing violence to other people, we need to ask what violence we are doing to truth.

The quality of hospitality education is a topical issue. It is being increasingly realised that the education level of tourism employees impacts on the quality of a country’s tourism industry. As the most tourism‐oriented region globally, the Caribbean is slowly awakening to the realisation that, unless its tourism employees are highly educated and skilled, the region will continue to account for an insignificant percentage of world tourism arrivals. In Grenada, hospitality education courses are limited, given the small tourism plant and comparatively low visitor arrivals. Research was undertaken by one of the authors, to explore the opinions of the accommodation sector about current education provisions and the future direction that courses should take. Integration of all stakeholders in the implementation of the broad education policy outlined by the government is crucial to improving hospitality education in Grenada to ensure a competitive tourism industry.

Extreme natural hazard events in the Caribbean continue to result in major adverse consequences. Studies of disaster experiences have identified operational deficiencies that limited the effectiveness of disaster management policies in live emergencies. This paper reports on a study of the implementation characteristics of specific public disaster risk reduction and response measures in two Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, which may impact the success of these measures. The purpose of this paper is to examine these characteristics and their potential impacts.

The authors collected data on specific aspects of disaster risk management (DRM) policy implementation from policy documents and interviews with public DRM agencies. A sample of business entities also provided data on their interactions with public risk management measures. The data focussed on operational aspects of implementation to identify likely impacts on hazard event outcomes.

The study identifies implementation deficiencies that may hamper achievement of risk reduction objectives and limit the effectiveness of emergency response.

The findings may be instructive for other Caribbean SIDS which share similar economic and social characteristics, natural hazard exposures and potential catastrophic outcomes.

The findings suggest tactical areas of focus to enhance the operationalisation of policy.

Improved operational effectiveness will support the efforts of Caribbean SIDS to reduce the scale of adverse outcomes on people and property.

The findings of this study broaden the scope of Caribbean disaster studies to provide an insight into operational weaknesses that may be recognised and addressed prior to hazard events.

The collapse of the Soviet Union had major ramifications for the small developing countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) as 3 of the then 13 countries experimented with strands of socialism, festering political fragmentation/ideological pluralism regionally. As the rivets of the Iron Curtain came unfastened, the emerging markets of CARICOM were forced to rethink their geopolitical positions while reforming their national educational systems. This chapter examines how the dissolution of socialism in the former socialist countries of Southeast/Central Europe and the former Soviet Union created a reform atmosphere across CARICOM countries. CARICOM's response to the impact of 1989 lies in how it spent the 1980s dealing with the 1973–1974 oil crises, ideological pluralism, and the subsequent imposition of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) under the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The successive degeneration of ideological pluralism within CARICOM countries caused by the simultaneous collapse of cooperative socialism in Guyana, revolutionary socialism in Grenada, and democratic socialism in Jamaica paved the way for post-socialist transformations regionally. This chapter considers how the policy process of functional cooperation – the non-economic policy mechanism upon which CARICOM seeks to integrate its members – facilitates the policy tool of lesson-drawing to take place between member states while laying the foundation for post-socialist change across CARICOM. Using data from the educational policies of 10 countries, this chapter illustrates how CARICOM members used the global policy alterations of 1989 as a reference point to reform their educational systems. Educational reforms occurred as member states drew lessons from each other – in the form of cross-national consultations – guided by the policy process of functional cooperation.

This paper aims to analyze the influence of externalization in the workforce on creating a work context that supports innovation and the moderation of this relationship by different contextual variables.

These relationships were studied using a sample of 249 workers from five firms. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to contrast the hypotheses.

The results of the study indicate that externalization affects the permanent worker's orientation to innovation negatively and that this relationship is moderated by contextual variables such as group potency and monitoring.

The aim of this paper is to stimulate new lines of research on externalization and orientation to innovation and their repercussions for the firm.

Developing and maintaining a pattern of sustainable livelihood (SL) is dependent upon the use to which we put our resources, particularly, our natural resources. SL is dependent upon five principal components; namely the vulnerability context, livelihood assets, transforming structures and processes, livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes. DFID (1999), DFID, FAO, IFAD, UNDP, WFP (2001) liveli hood assets also have many components one of which is natural assets/capital. Once the environment is shocked the natural assets are directly affected and all other types of assets and principal components become inoperable. The livelihood outcomes of the Caribbean people, poor and otherwise, are therefore linked to these natural as sets. The objective of this study is to possibly shape and create ways of developing and maintaining patterns that can lead to SLs. It should focus on the available natural resources, access to and optimal use of, which can transit into the best livelihood outcomes specifically for the poor. Basically, the outcome should be a body of knowledge that can contribute to SLs within the Caribbean. This is done with the use of two case studies of Caribbean islands, namely St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and Grenada. This paper is divided into four sections. Section one provides the background for the paper and briefly introduces the concept of SL. Section two outlines the SL approach. Section three provides an application of the SL approach in SVG and Grenada from two varying standpoints. Section four makes concluding remarks on the types and the sustainability of the livelihood strategies and outcomes.

An offshore sector makes reference to financial services and non‐financial services frameworks in a country/territory. Clientele who make use of these services are non‐residents of the given jurisdiction. In these service frameworks assets can be diverted to, and business/financial affairs conducted in, an environment where a package of favourable regulatory incentives are in place to benefit clients who would ordinarily not be privy to such regulatory regimes in onshore jurisdictions. These regulatory incentives typically comprise incorporation mechanisms as regards commercial holding companies or overseas subsidiaries in client‐friendly fiscal and exchange control environments.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and assess barriers and opportunities for evidence-based management (EBMgt) and decision-making in healthcare systems of the small island developing states (SIDSs) of English-speaking Caribbean.

The study utilized grounded theory to collect and analyze data on experiences and perceptions of 20 senior managers/leaders from seven Ministries of health in the region. It used semi-structured, in-depth interviews comprising open-ended questions. Data analysis comprised open, focused and theoretical coding.

EBMgt and decision-making is not a prominent approach taken by top officials of health systems because of internal and external barriers to its use. Indeed the absence of a culture of decision-making based on evidence pervades the public services of Caribbean island states. Notwithstanding, there are opportunities for meaningful application of this management/leadership strategy.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first assessment of the application of EBMgt to health systems of SIDSs of the Caribbean. This paper is concerned with the approach to decision-making in health systems across island states and lends support to the use of evidence in decision-making and policy development. It provides useful direction for policy makers, and senior managers/leaders of these systems.