Two events in 2008 brought about substantial changes in the international system: the Russian invasion of Georgia and the international financial crisis, both of which highlighted the powerlessness of international institutions to deal with such events. The war in Georgia made it clear that unilateral US measures, including an American deployment in traditionally Russian zones of influence, revitalized the country's relations with the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in order to propose a regional vision on international security issues. On the other hand, the financial crisis originating in the United States has had repercussions on the world economy, causing, among other things, the volatility of international commodity prices and the retraction of investments in emerging economies. Governments are trying to apply corrective measures ad intra while seeking, externally, to create conditions to stabilize the financial situation from a cooperative perspective. In this context, American hegemony without the multilateralist complement, which means having international legitimacy, is an invitation to generate strategic counterweights. From the perspective of critical realism of geostrategic unilateralism, such as that of the Iraq war, could argue that if the world is to be governed, multilateralism is the way to go.
Read more
Strategic communications is a key means of gaining acceptance of one's ideas, policies or courses of action. As such it plays a critical role in helping the United States to reinforce understanding of its values and culture — including support for its ideas, policies and courses of action — both within its war-fighting establishment and by the rest of the world. This article examines the historical actions of military chaplains to shed light on a critical aspect of their work; their ministries as strategic communications platforms from which they carry out a pastoral role while offering, as valued members of the military inner circle, religious, moral, spiritual and ethical advice to leadership, both at the strategic and tactical levels. It examines the role of the American military chaplaincy as a strategic communications phenomenon that predates the concept itself. A buzzword emanating from the 1990s that gained even greater currency in the September 11, 2001 global "war of ideas" — "strategic communications" might appear to be a new concept. Yet for centuries military chaplains have labored as strategic communicators in an effort to win support within the armed forces for their countries' national policy and doctrine.
Read more
In South America, attempts to establish a new institutional framework for intelligence are constantly being made. Probably together with the serious shortcomings of the police forces, the structuring of professional intelligence services is one of the pending issues in the democratic consolidation of security in the region. Most of these organizations are headed by military and police officers, although the number of civilian employees is increasing. Two very different groups of countries can be identified. On the one hand, there are those with old and consolidated organizations, at least in appearance, although not necessarily legitimized (SIDE in Argentina, ABIN in Brazil and DAS in Colombia). On the other hand, there are a number of countries with intelligence services in gestation and in search of legitimacy and professionalism. This is the case of ANI in Chile and DINI in Peru, while the governments of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela are trying to establish, through legislative reforms, completely new intelligence organizations. In any case, the lack of professionalism, the use of bad practices -- often through the political use of the services, and, in some cases, the low level of efficiency and success, as well as the persistence of internal struggles for power, influence and resources among civilians, military and police -- persist.
Read more
This article seeks to analyze the frameworks and forms of cooperation between military and police forces in a contemporary world characterized by a growing militarization of the field of public security. The correlation between military and police has not only occurred in peace-building missions under the baton of multilateral organizations such as the UN and NATO, but also in the fight against organized crime, illegal trafficking, insurgency and terrorism that have intermingled, forcing governments to provide coordinated interagency responses, which has led to a blurring of the boundary between plain defense and pure citizen security. This proposal analyzes these two variants of police-military cooperation and coordination. Despite differences in ethos, culture, missions and firepower, the combined actions of both bodies have been essential to reestablish, first, the rule of law and institutional reconstruction and, second, to confront new threats to national security. However, little is known about combined military-police actions in Latin America against terrorism and drug trafficking. This project seeks to delve in detail into the latter aspect.
Read more
The national security implications of pandemic influenza have immeasurable social costs, but also important are the quantifiable economic costs. We estimated the possible macroeconomic effects of the next influenza pandemic on the Jamaican economy and analyzed the economic impact of vaccine-based interventions. The estimated economic impact would be approximately JA$2.6B, excluding disruptions to commerce and society. Loss in man hours is estimated over a two (2) week work period at approximately 15M hours using an estimated average attack rate of 17% across the leading economic sectors. With vaccination cost per patient ranging between US$18 to as high as US$59, the overall cost of vaccinating members of the estimated labour force who might be exposed to an attack is as high as JA$917M. We therefore project a net savings to the society if persons within the labour force are vaccinated. Critical among the labour force are public and corporate security. Public safety and public order are paramount during an outbreak of pandemic influenza.
Read more
This essay analyzes the relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Colombia in the strategic context of the region. It begins with an analysis of why growing relations between China and the region are a key security and defense issue, despite the mainly economic nature of the relationship. It continues with an analysis of China's strategic interests in Colombia within the framework of general interests in the region, which include access to primary products, access to markets, isolating Taiwan, and fostering a secure environment for China's rise in the world. He concludes that relations between Colombia and the People's Republic of China in recent years have been primarily commercial in nature, with multiple strategic implications for Colombia, including the evolution of its trade structure, the increase in human trafficking, and the indirect empowerment of irregular forces and external threats in its neighborhood, and that China-Colombia-US relations should be understood as a triangle in which the development of one party impacts the others, but with opportunities to collaborate, including defense and criminality issues that involve the entire region.
Read more
