In discussing the restructuring of the defense sector in Nicaragua, I allude to a qualitative and quantitative process in which the armed forces and all civilian agencies related to defense participate, and in which the role of civilian society and international cooperation are considered. This paper presents a general characterization of the process - the reduction of personnel and budget, the reform and modernization of the legal framework of defense, the performance of the Legislature, the Ministry of Defense, civilian society and international cooperation. Finally, by way of conclusion, an incomplete list of "lessons not learned" is provided.
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Since Independence in the early 1960s, there have been considerable changes in the international and regional environments, many of which have tremendous implications for the security of the countries of the Caribbean. Associated with some of these changes are the problems of increased trafficking in guns and drugs, the development of transnational organized crime, increased violence and the corruption of key institutions of state including the criminal justice systems. Despite these changes and the new security challenges associated with them, there has been little effort to actually revise national security policy and to accordingly reform, indeed reconfigure and transform the security services to meet the real priorities of the post-colonial era. This paper presents an outline for a more rational reconfiguration of the Jamaican security establishment. A case is made for a fairly radical structural transformation of the security forces and system of policing that would yield more effective crime control results, a more just treatment of the citizenry and make better use of the limited resources available for national security.
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This paper is intended to be a methodological essay that discusses how broadening budgetary analysis and quantitative information in the area of defense can serve as an instrument of transparency and public oversight. Although it is based on the case of Argentina (which the author knows intimately), the goal is to open the discussion on the broader publication of quantitative information in the region. The paper is the result of the author's double frustration with the data offered by international and official sources. The fundamental requirement for the production of useful quantitative information is that the analysis is simultaneously fed from various angles: from the budgeting systems specialist, and from the expert in the theory, policy, history and institutions of the defense sector. The author suggests possible end-users of the data, a precise definition of military expenses, and 19 series or indices with a brief explanation of their usefulness.
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This article discusses the conceptual approach to security in the Caribbean, examines the nature of the security landscape in the region, and suggests areas of public security that warrant further attention. In relation to the first issue, it argues that the traditional Realist approach to security, with its focus on the military variable, the state as the unit of analysis, and external threats, is not applicable to the Caribbean region. Rather, an appropriate paradigm is one that goes beyond Realism, taking account of economic and political variables, both state and non-state actors, and external as well as internal threats. In relation the security landscape, it considers the security threats and challenges to include territorial disputes, drugs, political instability, and crime. The work emphasizes that the issue of drugs is not one-dimensional, but involves production, trafficking, abuse, money laundering, corruption, and local and organized crime. Attention is also paid to terrorism, showing the impact of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Caribbean. As regards areas for further attention the article suggests the need for distinctions in use of the terms "national security," "national defense," and "public security." Moreover, it calls for more theoretical and policy oriented work on public security actors and responses, and on crime, private security, and the security implications of HIV/AIDS.
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Universal obligatory military service in Brazil was instituted in 1908 by Hermes da Fonseca, then-Minister of War. Before this, the draft was not systematic, and was often applied in an arbitrary fashion. However, obligatory military service was only effectively begun after an extensive national campaign, initiated by the "Young Turks" - low-ranking Army officers who had been trained in Germany and became advocates of various reforms. They believed that obligatory military service would only be put into practice through a national campaign undertaken by civilians and military personnel. At this point, the National Defense League was created, composed of Brazil's political and literary luminaries who would disseminate the concepts of compulsory military service and civic duty. Military service was always considered fundamental for the formation of the "Concept of Patriotism" amongst youth. With this initiative, obligatory military service was into effect in 1916. Few modifications were made afterwards. Following the military regime (1964-1985) there were some steps taken to end obligatory military service. Suggestions from the Armed Forces were put into effect. The only important change made in the Consitution of 1988 was the provision for conscientious objection. Despite having ruled in Brazil for 20 years, the armed forces still enjoy social prestige, and there have been no consistent arguments against obligatory military service. Some changes have occured, however, these are at the initiative of the armed forces. The armed forces defend maintaining the draft, in order not to lose touch with young people and, to prevent a rift between society and the armed forces. Yet, the Army has been undertaking significant changes, tending toward the delineation of a mixed system--one that combines voluntary with obligatory service.
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In the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack to date, many are discussing how best to fight what some call the new war of the 21st century. Amb. Javier Ruperz comments on how the world must respond to the September 11 events drawing on lessons learned from Spain's 30 year struggle with terrorism. He argues for overwhelming and efficient international action against terrorism in all its forms, and wherever it occurs. In this action, he insists that democratic governments must uphold the rule of law, for if society does not maintain its moral superiority in this war, it will make itself an easy victim of future terrorist acts.
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Are arms races and military arms modernization programs the same thing, in other words, a competition for military supremacy? This is an important question, as some countries in South America have acquired and are currently acquiring high-tech arms systems. The criteria for a military arms modernization program differ from those that characterize a traditional arms race. Not only are the variables that lead to and condition the outbreak of an arms competition fundamentally dissimilar from arms modernization programs, but the contextual framework within which this phenomenon occurs is essentially different. That said, to what extent can these arms modernization programs generate perceptions of insecurity?
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Today in Brazil there is a consensus regarding the need to promote substantive changes to our current system of public security. The historical disinterest, intentional or not, among the political class and our elite regarding the strategic importance of police organizations in supporting individual and collective guarantees, is a position that can no longer be defended in the public arena. The public security system forcibly succumbed to the pressures of Brazilian society to provide services capable of accompanying the demands of citizenship extended to all Brazilians. With that, the disinterest did not fail to contribute to the crystalization of an unprecedented institutional crisis. Modern police, perhaps more than any other agency of defense and social control, became extremely permeable and sensitive to the constant transformations of Brazilian society. Among the more polemic issues that spur public debate about the reform of the Brazilian police, the educational formation of the military police stands out. The creation of a discussion forum involving all those who might directly or indirectly contribute to reforming police education, is one of many possibilities to build creative and viable solutions.
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Canada's armed forces have a unique policy of openness and accessibility, implemented in 1998 to restore flagging public confidence in the country?s military after a series of debilitating public relations failures in the mid-1990s. These were largely the result of incidents of bad behaviour among troops on a UN deployment in 1992. Although the policy is welcome, it has not removed some of the old difficulties which reporters typically experience when trying to get information from government departments.
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The analysis of military expenditures in Latin America is made difficult by lack of homogeneous, coetaneous information for the different countries. This paper seeks to identify the publicly available information about the process of resource allocation to the Chilean Armed Forces, and based on this, to suggest a methodology for assembling of a set of indicators designed to elevate the quality of public information regarding this expenditure, while at the same time allowing the comparison of Chilean military expenditures with those of other countries of the continent, were the methodology adopted by them. This article is part of a larger effort sponsored by the Ford Foundation, to arrive at a common methodology of measurement of military expenditures in the Southern Cone, which has included Argentina, Chile and Peru in its first phase. This paper discusses, first, the institutional elements that condition the allocation of resources to the armed forces, the characteristics of that allocation process and, finally, the main methodological themes that affect the construction of a set of defense expenditures comparable internationally and over time. On the basis of the restrictions that this imposes, a group of indicators of the evolution and characteristics of a country?s defense expenditures is defined.
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