The issue of civil-military relations has traditionally addressed, as such, the processes of civil-military relations. But the current context in Latin America demands that we separate these processes and understand their differentiation, incidence and influence. It is in the Ministries of Defense where these processes are best exemplified. In the vertical sense, it is the political-military relationship, as a dimension of power, where politicians must exercise the political leadership of defense and all its implications, and the military, as direct advisors to the subject, and executors of the military policy with political supervision. And civil-military relations, as a horizontal dimension, do not imply any relationship of power, but of knowledge. In some countries where defense communities have been created, they can be a space for consultation on this policy and other issues of interest to defense and military affairs.
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The incorporation of women into terrorist groups has occurred in disparate ways and with commitments characterized by gradual rhythms. This paper approaches the problem heuristically from a culturalist perspective, which has as its explanatory axis the male-female relationship. It is found that women leaders of terrorist organizations, or protagonists of emblematic acts, are rather a rarity, except in the Salvadoran and German experiences; both with quasi-epic connotations. Among the explanatory keys, the environmental influence of the machismo of the time is proposed, especially in Latin America, and reflected both in the very beginnings of the Cuban guerrillas and later in the various insurrectional pockets. The environmental influence would act as a major inhibiting factor. At the same time, the proletarian internationalism that was the basis for the proliferation of such groups seems to have been, at its core, a male thing. There is no record of women (not even Cuban) fighting alongside the mythical Ché in Bolivia; nor is there any record of any revolutionary leader accompanying Guevara in his previous journeys to the Congo, Algeria and others. A second major finding aims at explaining the irruption of women as suicide bombers as a product for communicational consumption. The crudeness of this incorporation of women into the great Chechen and Palestinian terrorist causes is rather frightening and raises a very pertinent doubt as to whether this phase responds to a construct or to a reliable integration into the cause they appear to embrace.
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The next three decades will witness the most important geopolitical change of the last few centuries: the rise of Asian power and the restructuring of the system of international relations. This paper aims to show how, why and with what consequences a progressive transfer of influence and a shift of power centers towards the region is already taking place. In order to analyze this, the reasons behind the rise of the Asian group on the global scene and the structural changes brought about by its incorporation will be pointed out; the main instruments of projection towards the rest of the world will be studied and, in more detail, the strategic repercussions for the Americas of the emergence of a new system of international relations, the Eastphalian system, will be discussed.
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This work proposes a conflict-analysis methodology, supported by a solid conceptual framework for formulating security policy and strategy. The differential in the methodology, already successfully applied in several countries, lies in a sophisticated deconstruction of the decision-making environment along seven axes of analysis and its subsequent reconstruction, while simultaneously developing trend projections, to identify the critical dynamics of areas of insecurity. The methodology was developed to be applied collaboratively by specialists in the various fields of expertise connected with security, and is easily adaptable to each country's specific policy and strategy-making practice.
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