In Latin America, as in every other part of the world, entrenched political corruption has proven to be extremely resistant to change, despite manifold efforts of legal reform and criminal prosecution. This paper proposes an explanation of this powerful resistance in terms of four interlocking vicious cycles. Once started, each cycle perpetuates itself and reinforces the other three. These vicious cycles involve (a) the informal economy, which drains income from the state treasury, (b) lack of transparency in international negotiations, (c) organized crime, which corrupts the judicial system; and (d) the patronage system of political appointments. Based on an examination of the dynamic behavior of the entire system we propose an explanation for why most reform efforts fail, and how a successful strategy can be constructed. Almost all of the insights reported in this paper were gained from the NationLab series of national strategic seminars in eight countries of Latin America.
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The United States has largely sat on the sidelines during the more than a decade of Latin American indigenous peoples' efforts to fully participate in their countries' political and economic life. Meanwhile, the growing political space created by the Indian movements appears to be dominated by radicalized forces united by anger and opposition to the United States. In at least one case, in southern Mexico, militant Islamicists reportedly use a shared hostility to Western, Judeo-Christian ideas and identity to recruit disaffected Indians to their cause. The importance strategic thinkers now give to "failed states" and "ungoverned spaces" suggests that Native Americans can and should be full partners in efforts to improve their standard of living and to deny terrorists and organized crime sanctuary in or near areas where they live.
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Every state has faced, in various forms, the challenge of modernizing, transforming and/or creating intelligence systems aimed at meeting the needs of decision-making processes, with an evident change in terms of their function in the Cold War, which basically centered on identifying and neutralizing internal or external threats. Nevertheless, this process faces political, economic and especially conceptual obstacles in establishing the intelligence system most appropriate for each country. The present article sets forth the characteristics of these systems, which must be coherent with interests, objectives and existing resources under a criterion of democratic consolidation, in which intelligence is one medium operating under strict political and legal controls, but the results of which are aimed at being a fundamental component of the decision-making process of political leadership, either by the head of state and/or by the government.
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This article focuses on demonstrating the direct relationship between governability and security in Latin America, based on the role of democratic institutions. A description of the region's socio-political framework is the basis for an accurate definition of these concepts understood as desired consequences, while it also reveals the structural sources of the difficulties in order to successfully achieve these goals. The fundamental premise is that the value of institutions must be recovered, because it is only through creating the opportunity for collective action that social interactions take form beyond private intention. Institutions are the nexus between effective governability and formal security perceived as authentic, because they embody three elements that lead to the achievement of these results: social containment, representation and confidence.
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This paper serves to introduce the Special Edition of Security and Defense Studies Review. It discusses the nature of the research project on Capacity Building in Latin America and the Caribbean: PKO and the Case of Haiti. The paper develops the hypotheses, research questions, and the methodology of the study. Finally, an appendix, provides a list of the nine research questions and their subordinate questions.
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There is a new civil-military pragmatism in the region defined by armies that engage in internal, role expansive missions at the behest of democratically elected officials. In the past, the armed forces would exploit such missions for their own political gain, while revising doctrines to make role expansion a permanent feature of military orientation. Instead, today’s armies have undertaken missions for purposes of helping civilian leaders fill vacuums and resolve specific problems that could not otherwise have been adequately dealt with. Military cooperation in this regard is dutiful but not altruistic; the military’s objective is to parlay these ventures into a justification for greater defense budget shares, salaries, and equipment. But role expansion is not inherently threatening to civilian control so long as soldiers remain decision-takers not makers. This they have, as brief case studies of Argentina and Venezuela make clear.
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Both the phenomenon of terrorism and our conception of it depend on historical context—political, social, and economic—and how the countries, groups and individuals who participate in or respond to the actions we call terrorism related to the world in which they act. The causes and effects of terrorism are comprehensible only in terms of political conflicts in specific historical periods. The current gap between Latin America and the United States on the conception of terrorism and the policy guidance that will establish a common anti-terrorist strategy in the Western Hemisphere respond to the unpredictability and dynamic of this phenomenon. Therefore, in order to reduce this present gap we require an effective guide to anti-terrorist policy formulation in Latin America and the United States under a common, clear, and prospective strategy that will be able to establish, enforce, and continually refine a holistic political-military plan and generate consistent national and international support.
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The changes that have occurred in the Western world in recent decades have produced many transformations in society. One of the areas that has been most openly affected is the military institution, derived from the redefinition of the State, new non-combat missions assigned to the armed forces, the continuation of traditional militaries and the deepening convergence of civilians and the military. Based on the book "The Postmodern Military" by Moskos, Segal and Allen, the author analyzes in this article, the impact that postmodernity is having on the military arena in Latin America and how the military is acting or reacting to this. In addition, the author analyzes the organizational changes and recommends some skills or traits that the professionals in the armed forces should acquire in the face of this era of change.
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