Transnational organized crime (TOC) in Latin America represents a formidable threat to national security. These illicit groups have operated in the Western Hemisphere for decades. Recently, however, the speed and violence associated with these non-state groups have exacerbated the magnitude of the problems to alarming levels. Criminal groups are not limited only to trafficking narcotics. They also operate human trafficking networks, illegal arms trafficking, engage in extortion, cybercrime, and political intimidation. This undermines security, generates instability, and scares away foreign investment and tourism. This essay examines initiatives underway in the Western Hemisphere to address the convergence of transnational organized crime and other illicit networks. It also provides suggestions for implementing more effective strategies to deal with illegal groups whose evolution threatens the national security of the United States and its allies.
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For a special report on the Commission, the Perry Center Publications Editor-in-Chief Patrick Paterson met with Professor Richard Wilson, Director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the Washington College of Law, to discuss the most important cases or reports in the history of the Commission. Professor Wilson, a frequent lecturer at the Perry Center, is a longtime observer of the Commission and Court, where he and his students have presented more than 30 cases. Of the thousands of cases and reports of the Commission, Professor Wilson selected a few that he thought were especially important or influential.
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This paper studies the impacts of the military securitization of cyberspace in the international politics of the 21st century. Cyberdefense is chosen as the object of study precisely because it allows inferences to be made about the political-institutional materialization of this issue, seeking support in the theory of securitization, proposed by the Copenhagen School. In this sense, this paper seeks to: (i) identify the main existential (cyber) threats to the military sector, revealing why this process is intensifying in the 21st century; (ii) project the conditions for such securitization; and (iii) explain its effects on international politics, based on the cases of the United States, Brazil and Canada. To this end, the Spectrum of Military Securitization of Cyberspace (ESMC) is designed, a framework of analysis based on the theory of securitization with a focus on cyberdefense in a given time and space. As for the literature review, Brazilian and foreign authors in Political Science and International Relations figure mostly in the body of this work. As for the methodology, it uses the qualitative-quantitative analysis style, despite the use of interviews, case studies, discourse and document analysis. Its conclusion aims to corroborate the hypothesis that, in addition to the securitization of cyberspace by the military sector, this process is reflected in current international politics. Consequently, it is possible to situate the three cases in this ESMC.
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