This article examines the relationship between three basic elements of international relations - regions, states, and security - with the example of Central America as a case study. The author posits that indeed the existence of fragile states coincides with broader measures of stability, and increase levels of both national and regional insecurity. Through a study of the security and stability situation in Central America, the author explains the effects of fragile governments on a regional security complex.
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The collapse of the Soviet Union is the most important strategic inflection that consolidates the era of transformation towards democracy in the world. In Latin America, the changes towards democracy were dramatic and irreversible. In this order of ideas, the opening created by the privatization process as a result of the third wave of democratization in Latin America, together with globalization, have emphasized the role of the State in its responsibility to provide the security and defense that allows the exercise of democracy and development. In Central America, the privatization of security has occurred as a consequence of the pacification process at the end of the 1980s, democratization and globalization. In this order, the State has shown itself incapable of providing the common good of security. This essay aims to analyze the state of control and supervision of the privatization of security and defense in Central America and its impact and trends in the current security environment in the region.
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The article analyzes interdependency levels in security affairs, pointing out that the best accomplishments have been carried out in South America, such as multinational cooperation in the UN mission in Haiti. It is also pointed out that, regarding security and defense in North America, there are plenty of obstacles meant to be overcome by means of implementing the Merida Initiative for México and Central America. In the case of Andean countries-at present, the most conflictive region in the hemisphere-actual steps backwards have occurred, increasing geopolitical and border tensions among its members. The paper concludes that at present, the paradigm between security and integration must not be mutually exclusive. It faces growing challenges which demand the creation of institutions that are able to deal with them.
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The impact of new challenges in security and defense has made it clear that there is a need to establish measures of mutual trust between countries and within those countries themselves. In the mid-1990s, several countries in Latin America addressed this need, publishing their Defense White Papers, in which they stated their positions on the subject of Defense. Central American countries, after ending their internal armed conflicts, began a process of reconciliation, which included the subject of the relationship between armed forces and society. Consequently, the White Papers in these countries, more than just being instruments for implementing measures of trust with neighboring countries, served to establish these measures among the various sectors of society, indicating that the process of political leadership required changes in order to be compatible with existing determinants. This article describes these initial processes in each of the countries and how, from different perspectives, they achieved progress in political-military relations, although with a certain degree of military influence predominating.
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