A review of Yale University professor Yanilda Maria Garcia’s book Authoritarian Police in Democracy, Contested Security in Latin America. Focuses on obstacles and enablers of police reform through field research in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.
Current events warrant a review of US civil-military relations doctrine. This special commentary examines eight principles of military subordination to elected civilian officials and addresses the fundamental question at the heart of civil-military relations theory and practice, namely, what options, if any, does the military professional have when civilian leadership disregards military advice? Examples drawn from US history can provide an important framework for understanding the complex interrelational dynamics at play.
A moderated presentation of the recently published English-language book Understanding Mexico?s Security Conundrum on Mexico?s institutional approach to national security.
The governments of the Western Hemipshere ask more and more of the armed forces on a regular basis. In some instances they are sent overseas for peackeeping and stabilization missions. In Latin America, the armed forces are increasingly called upon to provide support to the police in very complex environmenbts, and in some jurisdictions take over public security altogether. With the exception of the military police units the use of force paradigm utilized by military forces is designed to defeat an adversary under the legal framework of international humanitarian law (IHL) otherwise known as the law of armed conflict (LOAC). Many of these new mission sets described above take place outside of war and thus outside of IHL/LOAC. This reality presents a series of challenges for armed forces as related to both accountability and the management of general military operations and conduct.
El Salvador has been impacted by political instability and socioeconomic upheavals in a perfect environment for organized crime; in the midst of the pacification and democratization of the country after a bloody internal conflict. This essay focuses on private security through a descriptive analysis of the factors that influence its evolution and implications in the country's governability and governance. The analysis of security as a common good, the factors influencing the use of private security and the inter-institutional relations of private security and the police require appropriate regulations based on the aforementioned factors. When considering security as a common good, fundamental rights are mandatory and the basis for the legitimacy of government action.
The rise and involvement of private security companies in what was hitherto the domain of states has been quite topical, calling the attention of academics and practitioners alike as they debate the practical and conceptual issues relating to this change within what can be described as the sovereignty of states. The purpose of this essay is to conduct a case study of the private security industry in Barbados with a view to understanding its structure, reasons for growth, and relationship with the formal police force. I argue that the growth of the private security companies in Barbados will be a force extension to the state law enforcement agencies and can contribute significantly to the fostering of a safe and stable environment.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the political discourse and public policies that gave rise to the Democratic Security Policy implemented in Colombia by President Uribe during his two administrations between 2002 and 2010, and to evaluate its results. For this purpose, the security discourse proposed by the candidate in his "Democratic Manifesto" is studied, confronted with the public policies included in the Development Plans and implemented during his presidency, the consistency between the political discourse and governmental actions is analyzed, and its results are evaluated on the basis of objective security indicators.
The collapse of the Soviet Union is the most important strategic inflection that consolidates the era of transformation towards democracy in the world. In Latin America, the changes towards democracy were dramatic and irreversible. In this order of ideas, the opening created by the privatization process as a result of the third wave of democratization in Latin America, together with globalization, have emphasized the role of the State in its responsibility to provide the security and defense that allows the exercise of democracy and development. In Central America, the privatization of security has occurred as a consequence of the pacification process at the end of the 1980s, democratization and globalization. In this order, the State has shown itself incapable of providing the common good of security. This essay aims to analyze the state of control and supervision of the privatization of security and defense in Central America and its impact and trends in the current security environment in the region.
This presentation by the Minister of Defense of the Republic of El Salvador was made on July 7, 2010 at the 6th Sub-Regional Conference for Mesoamerica, held July 20-23 in San Salvador and organized by the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS).
