This volume builds upon previous research that was published as a research note titled, “The War on Terror and the Caribbean” in Perspectives on Terrorism – a publication of International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT).  The book offers a broader conceptual understanding of the War on Terror through the Schmittian perspectives, specifically, the “friend-enemy” concept and the “sovereign” in times of exception in relation to Bush’s War on Terror both from a domestic and international standpoint with the latter mainly focusing on the Caribbean.  The Schmittian perspectives tells us why suspected individuals may have been labelled as enemy combatants, denied their fundamental human rights – such as habeas corpus and how the Bush administration was able to bypass the checks and balances that typifies America’s democracy and what is the critical juncture to which both Schmittian perspectives meet in times of exception.

More importantly, the book seeks to answer an important question: How and in what ways has the Caribbean been impacted by the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent elusive War on Terror?  To address this question, the author draws upon findings from a qualitative research study.  The analysis concludes that both the horrific terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, followed by the War on Terror campaign impacted the Caribbean in several ways, which includes but not limited to, amendments to the region’s financial sector and immigration system, enhanced border and regional security, the implementation of anti-terrorism legislations along with anti-terrorism financing legislations, among other things.  In general, this volume intends to encourage more academic discourse with respect to the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent War on Terror impacts on the Caribbean – a region that is underscrutinised in the prevailing literature on the topic.

Quashie. E., The War on Terror and the Caribbean: Schmittian Perspectives (Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2025)

 

Dr Emanuel Quashie

Emanuel Quashie is a Lecturer for International Relations at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.  He holds a PhD in Politics from the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s University Belfast.  He is the author of Stakeholders of Terrorism and the Caribbean: A Short Case Study (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), which includes a forward from Mitchell Institute Director Professor Richard English.