The article analyzes interdependency levels in security affairs, pointing out that the best accomplishments have been carried out in South America, such as multinational cooperation in the UN mission in Haiti. It is also pointed out that, regarding security and defense in North America, there are plenty of obstacles meant to be overcome by means of implementing the Merida Initiative for México and Central America. In the case of Andean countries-at present, the most conflictive region in the hemisphere-actual steps backwards have occurred, increasing geopolitical and border tensions among its members. The paper concludes that at present, the paradigm between security and integration must not be mutually exclusive. It faces growing challenges which demand the creation of institutions that are able to deal with them.
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The provision of private security services challenges conventional wisdom about the role of the State as the guarantor of public security. Taking into account the weakness or absence of effective legal structures and regulating entities, such non-state activities pose serious questions about lawfulness, legitimacy, and responsibility in the security area. If the security provided by police forces is not reliable, citizens will tend to resort to private security services (PSS) or to supply themselves with arms in order to protect themselves, speeding up the decline of state monopoly on the legitimate use of force. In El Salvador, PSS monitoring and control focus on this area. By means of systematically analyzing the phenomenon, its main elements and the dynamic interrelationship among them are presented as a means of determining whether the system provides the required levals of transparency and the democratic standards regarding the operations and behavior of the PSS. The research presented is aimed at bringing Salvadoran expertise in these matters into the debate on PSS monitoring and control, a useful exercise in part because it shows, from the vantage point of primary sources, the Salvadoran experience with systems of monitoring and control.
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Analysis of the emergency in Nicaragua caused by Hurricane Felix offers key insights into a risk management experience in Central America. The attention given to a natural disaster yields in retrospect hands-on lessons learned about the role of international cooperation role in development and public policymaking, and the effective agreement among national entities, citizen organizations, and defense and security forces. The article states that risk prevention systems for natural disasters must be focused comprehensively, in this way allowing the armed forces to supply their knowledge and expertise to civil institutions in charge of planning, non-governmental organizations and international cooperation entities. Such initiative, according to the author should become a common practice in the medium term, offering the chance to strengthen civilian-military relationships.
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After the Cold War, European countries, in both East and West, faced the same question, namely how their military organizations and those of their neighbors would respond to changes in international relationships, to their perceptions of the threats (whether regional or global) and to the control of security among nations. Faced with this new reality, their processes of change were inevitably influenced by a new conception of roles framed in cooperation and, even more so, in integration. These new demands made it imperative, in view of such processes, to obtain a degree of acceptable "interoperability" among their armed forces. In a regional context of differing alliances, our American region and specifically its armed forces has increasingly transitioned into specific activities of cooperation, particularly into integrating multinational forces for Peacekeeping Missions (e.g. MINUSTAH in Haiti), in which the "interoperability" factor has played an key role with regard to its employment and the degree of achievement of the mission. This article seeks to highlight, from an objective academic point of view, the importance of such capacities in an atmosphere of cooperation and integration among armed forces.
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In Latin America, where limited probabilities of international conflict are envisioned, the Armed Forces in democratic countries perform multiple tasks. This paper analyzes four of these tasks, leaving aside the traditional mobilization in the event of natural catastrophes: the fight against drug trafficking; the fight against insurgent organizations and terrorism; control of land conflicts; and the protection of government property. When we understand this multiplicity of tasks, we understand that it is essential to keep in mind the complexity of factors that impact on, and interact in, each particular national case. These factors are of a political, historical, geographical and cultural nature, and can be both structural and situational. Ignoring this heterogeneity and adopting positions in standard terms of what "should be" in this area would mean relying on erroneous assumptions and standards.
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This article discusses the role of nationalism in internal disputes in the Armed Forces that occurred during the years 1964-1979, which period corresponds to the first fifteen years of the Military Regime in Brazil. Over the course of the period that we are studying, issues related to the economic development and foreign policy of the country polarized the debates and conflicts within the realm of the uniformed class, resulting in significant transformations in the strategies implemented by the State with a view toward building a "Great Power." To evaluate the importance of the nationalistic component in the political culture of the military, it was necessary to gather and link the antecedents that gave rise to the convictions and devisions existing in the armed institutions when the 1964 Movement emerged. Next, the military groups that came to compete for the control of the State apparatus are described, examining how the greater influence of one of the other impacted on the decision-making process related to the following issues: nuclear program, arms industry, nationalization of the economy, foreign capital, sensitive technologies, colonization of the Amazon, relations between Brazil and the US, international accords, multilateral forums and foreign trade policy. In discussing this point, special emphasis is given to the pronouncements and declarations made by the officials who were the key players during this period, as the justifications presented by them make it possible to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the measures that were adopted and the nationalism that permeated the political culture predominant in the Armed Forces.
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In this paper, we examine whether the 1990s neoliberal reforms, commonly known as the Washington Consensus, which many Latin American nations implemented, ultimately impacted US national security. Given the rise of leftist regimes in Argentina and Venezuela coupled with the distancing of former allies in Brazil and Chile, we ask whether these reforms, meant to strengthen US national security, harmed it instead. We briefly review the literature on the causes of the Latin American economic crises, which led to the Washington Consensus and explore the various methods of reform implementation in four countries of strategic interest to the United States: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela. Examining whether the reforms, in general, were successful, we consider competing theories on the success (or the failure) of the reforms in these countries. Reviewing evidence on the reforms' impact on these nations, we discuss whether or not the reforms should be abandoned. We find that while stakeholders held competing objectives and divergent opinions existed on the scope, type, and speed of the reforms, the reforms appear to have improved economic growth and reduced poverty. We argue that, despite associating neoliberal reforms with increasing anti-American sentiment, Latin American support for free trade and other aspects of the neoliberal reforms remains strong. For this reason, we argue that the United States should reinvigorate support for these reforms.
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