This volume does four things. Firstly it examines the nexus between the illegal narcotics enterprise as a social phenomenon and political economy as a scholarly issue area. Secondly it explores the regional and global contexts of the political economy of illegal narcotics operations in the Caribbean. Thirdly it assesses some of the political economy connections and consequences of the enterprise in the region. Finally, it discusses some of the measures adopted to contend with the illegal drug challenge in the area.

SONITA MORIN ABRAHAMS Executive Director of Addiction Alert Organization, Jamaica GABRIEL AGUILERA PERALTA Vice Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs, Guatemala CAPTAIN RICHARD R. BEARDSWORTH Chief of Law Enforcement, Seventh District of the Untied States Coast Guard, Miami, Florida RICHARD L. BERNAL Jamaica's Ambassador to the U.S. GARY BRANA-SHUTE Former Professor of Caribbean and Central American Studies, Foreign Service Institute and Professor of Anthropology at George Washington University CLIFFORD E. GRIFFIN Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Graduate Program in International Studies, North Carolina State University STEPHEN E. LAMAR Director of Government Relations, American Apparel Manufacturers Association WINSOME J. LESLIE Economic Attache at the Jamaican Embassy in Washington TREVOR MUNROE Professor of Government and Politics, University of the West Indies, Jamaica ORLANDO PEREZ Assistant Professor of Political Science, Central Michigan University JORGE RODRIGUEZ BERUFF Professor of Political Science, University of Puerto Rico JOHN F. STACK JR. Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Public Policy HILBOURNE A. WATSON Professor of International Relations, Bucknell University TIM WREN formerly Executive Director of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force