| The goal of this study is to examine the events generating the coup attempt, the government response to it and to posit the recent phenomenon of Afro-Caribbean Islam as a security threat within the fragile polities of the Caribbean Basin as a case study. By studying the ethno-religious tensions which gave rise to the coup and understanding the phenomenon of Afro-Trinidadian Islam more thoroughly, this research effort will assess how a microstate such as Trinidad---and indeed any other small state in the region---could have resisted this destabilization given its limited resources.; More specifically there are four primary research questions to be addressed. First, what forces contributed to the dissolution of an historically tolerant and ethnically, as well as religiously diverse society? Why was violence chosen as a vehicle for unrest, assuming such existed? Second, once armed force had been cast as the route to be taken, how did a country with no real security apparatus to speak of manage to contain the coup makers and survive? Third, since the coup was elementally Islamic in nature, what precise aspects about Islam and civil society need to be considered here? Is Islam compatible with open democracy in the region? Fourth, can other more autarkic forces be tied to the Trinidad coup? If so, what facets of international narco-criminal activity and Islamic political action can be identified?; The reader can expect to find that microstates in the Caribbean are woefully prepared for the kind of globalized pressure that their fractionalizing social structures will face. Their weak economies will add to their susceptibility to these fissures. On the positive side, there are inherent strengths to their cultures, which will help them resist widespread social meltdown, but only with regional cooperation and third party assistance.; Key findings. This study has found that Caribbean microstates are notably vulnerable to a broad spectrum of destabilizations. Global forces such as economic downturns and cash commodity price fluctuations play havoc with the mono-economies of the region.; Second, small states and microstates can expect little in the way of support from major global players in politics and economics.; Third, Ethno-religious divisions in Trinidad are far more sharp than had been presumed, and are growing more pronounced---and not less pronounced.; Fourth, Trinidad can expect nascent ethnic, religious and social unrest.; Last, Afro-Trinidadian Islam will be a rising element in Trinidadian social and political affairs. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
