The paper analyses the roles and functions of the military and civilian police and comes to the conclusion that either the disbanding or amalgamation of the military in small developing countries would denude the state's capability of providing a stable National Security environment. It suggests that transformation of the military to be more relevant to the developing economies is more appropriate. The link of the hemispheric threats of the nation states of the Caribbean, to National Security and the differing roles of the police and military services is investigated and it is argued that the concomitancy of appropriate training to functions is critical and herein lies one of the major impediments to amalgamation. The paper argues that discipline is the foundation of military combat readiness and combat effectiveness and is more important in today's complex security environment of asymmetric threats from non-state actors where the "release aggression, restrain excess" paradox is most relevant.
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This analysis goes into detail on the situation and reflects on three fundamental factors. The first is an abstraction regarding the new threats, and the definition, perception and impact of such on the societies involved. The second relates to the mission that the various Latin American constitutions assign to Armed Forces and police personnel. The third and last is the model adopted by the EU, and offers a critique of the Central American Framework Treaty on Security, with two extreme poles in the focus that we have undertaken. It ends with a series of conclusions that could serve for reflection or guidelines for at last characterizing the role of Latin American Armed Forces in the fight against the new threats.
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This paper focused on the origin, structure and roles of the military of Belize, an arm of the state of the only English-speaking country in Central America. The key tasks that were undertaken by the Belize’s military were both external and internal. It is shown that Belize is the only country of the English-speaking Caribbean in which armed forces are used primarily for defense. This is so to deter the Guatemalan army from marching into Belize and to control the infiltration of its borders by illegal immigrants. However, Belize’s military has become increasingly involved in "police" operations, including the combating of drugs and maintaining domestic order, thus leading to a blurring of the roles of the police and the military, as well as the provision of relief during natural and other disasters. Finally, Belize’s military engaged in self-help programs and provided assistance to a number of civilian projects as a way of fostering improved civil-military relations.
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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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