In this article for US Northern Command’s magazine, The Watch, Dr. William Godnick describes the contours and challenges faced at the United States’ "third border" in the Caribbean, specifically the multi-island state of the Bahamas. Dr. Godnick outlines the long-standing bilateral relationship between the United States and the Bahamas and how increased Chinese investment presents a new set of challenges for the relationship. He calls for re-thinking how security cooperation relationships should be forged with high, middle-income countries to avoid security gaps in our shared neighborhood.

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This monograph is a serious and well-researched investigation into crucial factors of contemporary warfare. Readers will learn lessons on the distinctions between the Law of Armed Conflict and criminal law, particularly on important issues like lethal force, escalation of force tactics, and security detention. Professor Paterson makes a strong argument that the stated policy of respect and promotion of human rights (HR) - that has long been a guiding principle of the US military - does not translate into specific and mandatory directives at the tactical and operational levels. Indeed, he asserts that at those levels there is no formal attention to HR, only ad hoc efforts by operational units that don’t receive guiding policy. This monograph will be essential reading for policymakers and those whose task is the development of granular precepts to guide implementation and execution of policy on the ground.
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The rise and involvement of private security companies in what was hitherto the domain of states has been quite topical, calling the attention of academics and practitioners alike as they debate the practical and conceptual issues relating to this change within what can be described as the sovereignty of states. The purpose of this essay is to conduct a case study of the private security industry in Barbados with a view to understanding its structure, reasons for growth, and relationship with the formal police force. I argue that the growth of the private security companies in Barbados will be a force extension to the state law enforcement agencies and can contribute significantly to the fostering of a safe and stable environment.
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The types of violent conflicts occurring more frequently today encompass solutions from different areas, making participation in peacebuilding from a broad range of backgrounds and specializations essential to its success. In order to reinforce the internal structure of fragile or destroyed states, it is necessary to achieve a stronger integration and coordination not only among the States but also among the international organizations. Peacekeeping must become Peacebuilding to accomplish this end. Integral security has long been a basic concept for all the participating countries. International experience demonstrates that States who cooperate in a specific country for humanitarian reasons and under UN mandate should afterwards complement the peace operations carried out by military forces with actions designed to settle that country's basic needs. As a concept, peace operations is broader, representing much more than sending troops. Along with the mission of enforcing peace and security, it also has a wider and more integral multidisciplinary character, throwing down a gauntlet to both civilian and military people to act jointly and in coordination in various multiple and complex tasks. This is necessary so that the new operations achieve their final goal of securing peace and socio economic development. In this article the case of Chile's evolution is presented inside the peace operations under the UN mandate. The future participation of civilians as a whole, altogether with military and police, is presented as another topic of the Foreign Policy under the framework of the Chilean International Cooperation Agenda for Haiti. Also, the Parliament's involvement in the generation of national strategic planning capabilities for peacebuilding is highlighted.
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On March 1, 2004, Chilean president Ricardo Lagos informed the nation of the decision to send troops to Haiti as part of a multinational peace mission (MINUSTAH), under the mandate of the United Nations. This decision made Chile the first country in Latin America to join the United States, Canada and France in a stabilization force in the Caribbean after the fall of Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide and it is Chile's the largest deployment in its long history of support for peace missions. In Chile, this initiative generated intense political debate in international analysis and defense circles concerning the suitability of sending this deployment on a mission such as MINUSTAH. It is the purpose of this document to discuss the conditions that led Chile to take part in this mission and its context and to offer a documented assessment of an issue that is still new within the country and of the participation of Chilean forces in missions under Chapter VII.
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This chapter reviews the key lessons from the various research papers. In general, it points out that the research supported the hypotheses on which the study is based. The papers thus supported the importance of prestige, international obligations, hemispheric solidarity, and a residual support for the U.S. as motivations. But it also emphasized that the Latin Americans put more weight on the UN Charter than does the U.S. It also reinforced the importance of domestic political issues and considerations. While the research also supported the notion that political will was a necessary condition for participation in a PKO it did not validate its sufficiency. Rather, the lack of capability in terms of resources was shown to be even more important in some cases than political will. Finally, the research showed that there are a significant number of actions that can be taken by the nations of the hemisphere that will increase their individual and collective capacity to conduct PKO and other integrated operations.
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This article presents a reflective description of Bolivia’s participation in the UN-sponsored peacekeeping operations in the Republic of Haiti, in which several Latin American countries are participating. It points out the motives that led the Bolivian government to participate in the operations, and the decisions taken in the various areas of the Executive Branch, National Congress, and National Police Command to send a contingent of police agents to perform advisory and patrol tasks and provide training for Haitian police forces. It also shows the objectives of the participation, both for the Bolivian government and for the police and chiefs and officers that were at the scene of the intervention. In addition, it discusses the possibilities of effectiveness of combined forces in joint peacekeeping tasks and how those experiences can create a regional capability for facing outbreaks of armed confrontations in a timely and effective manner.
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The article centers on the factors that influenced Peru’s decision to participate in the peacekeeping operations in Haiti, as well as the difficulties it had to face in order to implement that decision. Perhaps the most important influencing factor was the reinsertion of the Peruvian Armed Force in the Western military community after years of struggling against Sendero Luminoso, which had led to serious human rights violations. Other important factors were the aim of achieving prestige and a presence on the international stage, the economic advantages to be gained for the troops, the training benefits, and lastly collaboration with the United States in a mission that was of interest to that country.
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