The Development of the Military in Post-Independent Barbados

Abstract

There are a limited number of studies on the post-independent military in the Anglophone Caribbean in general and Barbados in particular. Two principle reasons account for this. It is only within the last two decades or so that the new nation states of the subregion have had thrust upon them the responsibility for external affairs and defence, including the creation of defence forces. Previously, defence was the prerogative of the British government. In other words, the phenomena of ‘a local army’ did not exist.