This study, arising from the Ford Foundation Southampton project on North-South security relations, focuses on the concept of security in Central America and the Caribbean, and on perceptions by states in the region of the rival claims of political independence, economic well-being, national security and regional stability. The Central American region is of particular interest because of the range it displays of crisis-management regimes and crisis-control techniques; it also provides an illuminating example of the contemporary interaction of East-West and North-South relations. Specific case studies are combined with theoretical analysis in this integrated assessment of the Central American situation that includes contributions from leading scholars in the UK, United States and Central America itself.