Colossus Challenged: The Struggle for Caribbean Influence

In recent years the powerful and long-standing influence of the United States in the Caribbean and Central America has been challenged directly by Cuba, Mexico, and Venezuela and--many think--indirectly by the USSR. This struggle for dominance, which has altered and still is significantly changing the power configuration in the Caribbean Basin, is examined in detail in Colossus Challenged. The book contains seven chapters by prominent area specialists. Five of the chapters focus on the Caribbean policies of the major contenders for power, analyzing the evolution of each country's policies, the main variables affecting its definition of interests and its decision making, and its prospects for exerting regional influence in the foreseeable future. The other two chapters look at the rivalry for Caribbean influence from the perspectives of eastern Caribbean and Central American governments.

H. MICHAEL ERISMAN is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania. He has written numerous articles, conference papers, and book reviews dealing primarily with Caribbean/Central American affairs which have appeared in such journals as Revista/Review Interamericana, Caribbean Review, and Opiniones. He has also co-edited a Latin American monograph series. His main fields of interest are U.S. and Cuban foreign policies as well as transnationalism in the Caribbean. He is currently working on two books, one on Cuban Globalism and the other on U.S. Caribbean policy. JOHN D. MARTZ, Head and Professor of Political Science at the Pennsylvania State University, is the author or editor of twelve books and several dozen articles and book reviews on Latin American politics. His most recent articles have analyzed the politics of Ecuador in such journals as Studies In Comparative International Development, Current History, and Journal of Inter-American Studies. His most recent book, with Lars Schoultz, is Latin America, The United States, And The Inter-American System (1980). His present research centers on parties, 'elections, and ideological movements in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. He served as Editor of the Latin American Research Review from 1975-1980.