This paper aims at making a preliminary analysis of Argentina’s participation in the current United Nations mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), stressing the lessons observed to date, in order to state recommendations and parameters for policy-makers that help to strengthen the capabilities both of Argentina and of the region for participation in peacekeeping operations within the context of Hemisphere cooperation. The work includes an analysis of the effectiveness of combined forces and basic requirements to be considered in order to strengthen regional cooperation at the strategic and operational levels in order to face the challenges this type of activity now presents.
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Contributing to PKO in Haiti is important to the Canadian government because of commitments to multilateral institutions and interventions; the risk of gangs, drugs and refugees overflowing to the region; and the critical role Haitian immigrant voters play in Canadian politics. Intelligence and design of options for the mission were undertaken by a team of officials from foreign affairs, international aid, defence, and the national police forces - shaped via an interactive dialogue with the UNDPKO as it put MINUSTAH together - and decided by the Prime Minister. Slow progress in establishing civil order and effective democratic institutions indicates the need for better designed interventions based on in-depth knowledge and engagement with Haitian society, and its potential progress in governance.
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This study considers the use of multinational force to assist in rectifying Haiti’s political woes by exploring two research questions: "How did Haiti’s security situation evolve into its present situation?" and "How effective has multinational force been in assisting the government of Haiti in its quest for democracy?" By properly analyzing these queries, the Haiti case may yield valuable lessons that will serve to inform hemispheric nation-states seeking to build capacity for the conduct of current and future multinational peacekeeping missions.
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On February 29, 2004, only ten years after the United States last intervened in Haiti to reinstall President Jean Bertrand Aristide, U.S. military forces once again entered Haiti to stabilize the country after President Aristide fled as violence gripped the country. However, unlike the 20,000 troops, significant resources, and ambitious objectives of Operation Uphold Democracy in 1994, the recent intervention was executed with a much smaller force, with much more limited United States government goals, objectives, and expectations. This paper will analyze the events leading to the U.S. decision to intervene and the rationale to limit US objectives and participation. It will then examine the planning, organization, objectives, and effectiveness of the Multinational Interim Force’s (MIF) and the transfer of responsibility to the UN stabilization force. The paper will conclude with recommendations on how the US may build upon and strengthen the demonstrated capacity for collective security operations for Latin America and the Caribbean in the future.
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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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The text summarizes the review of research on education in the Brazilian Navy, focusing on the Course on Maritime Policy and Strategies (C-PEM). Some of the key arguments regarding the current world military profession and education are introduced as well as their effects on the Brazilian situation. Finally, some considerations are presented on the current organization of the course, within the context of changes in homeland defense, highlighting some political-educational aspects of the relationship with Brazilian society.
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The isolation of the Falklands-Malvinas from the American continent is a strange and awkward contradiction within the new paradigms of globalization. Moreover, the liberal civil rights enjoyed by the inhabitants of the Falklands-Malvinas Islands clashes with their legal framework of discrimination applied to outsiders, and both factors can only result in a resurgence of tension and an increase in the cost of the conflict. The goal of this presentation is to encourage a change in attitude by the parties involved in the dispute, through an analysis of the historical decision-making process and the opportunities associated with the controversy. However, a change in attitude alone is not enough for an effective solution to this territorial dispute. It requires an Argentina with reliable institutions in parallel with the United Kingdom’s political will. Finally, there are some valuable lessons we can learn from the narrative. Perhaps an early attempt to craft a solution to this dispute might be possible by taking into account the Henry Kissinger’s words of wisdom, when he stated that "a successful negotiation happens when both sides lose something."
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The article has two goals: first, to show how Brazil, when compared to other Latin American countries, represents a successful case of incorporating the military into the new democratic order; and second, to demonstrate that part of this process of subordinating the military to civilian power – and the consequent redefinition of civilian-military relations – can be credited to the way in which Brazil conceived and negotiated political amnesty during the transition to civilian rule. In addition, it will be argued that this success can also be explained by the ways in which the democratically elected governments of the 1990s dealt, in name of the State, with persisting uncertainties about "past scores to be settled."
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