A Critical Assessment of the United States' National Security Strategy and Its Impact on Latin America (original) (raw)

Latin American Security Challenges: A Collaborative Inquiry from North and South

2004

: Newport Paper 21, "Latin American Security Challenges: A Collaborative Inquiry from North and South," helps reopen the door to serious analyses of the relationship between Latin American national security issues and American strategic interests. The monograph consists of an introduction and conclusion and three substantive essays analyzing specific issues facing Latin America. The first essay, "Latin America's Lawless Areas and Failed States," builds upon the concepts of failed states and borderless regions to suggest how criminals and perhaps terrorists can find refuge and support in localities outside the control of states. The second essay, "Security Implications of Poor Economic Performance in Latin America," provides a solid introduction to the interconnection of economic behavior and the national security threats facing both Latin American governments and the United States. The final essay, "Chinese Interests in Latin America," spe...

Why the US Cant Ignore Latin Americas Security Challenges

This article examines the security challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean, finding multiple, significant, and potentially reinforcing sources of instability in the region, including serious security challenges in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Colombia, Venezuela, and other South American states. The work offers concrete recommendations for U.S. policymakers in four areas to meet those challenges.

Latin America 2020: Challenges to U.S. National Security Interests

2020

U.S. national security interests in Latin America are undermined by three key threats: transnational criminal organizations, which exploit weak levels of governance across the majority of countries in the region; extra-regional actors, which fill the vacuum created by U.S. distraction and inattention to its neighborhood; and finally, a number of regional political actors embracing ideological positions opposed to open political systems and free markets, which undermine progress toward democratic governance and stability. The United States must acknowledge the deeply rooted causes of the weak levels of governance and engage with greater attention and presence while recognizing its limitations for helping to resolve those weaknesses in the short term. U.S. prestige is on the line within this hemisphere as we confront the ambitions of revisionist powers undermining global order.

Securing the Future by Looking South: Strategic Opportunities for the United States in Latin America

This article uses three lenses from core international relations schools of thought to identify insights that should drive U.S. security policy in the Western Hemisphere. Although the region is undervalued in U.S. strategic prioritization, all three major international relations frameworks point to its importance. Effective engagement in the hemisphere presents an opportunity for the U.S. to increase its comparative strength to rising and revisionist powers, broaden the western democratic family of nations , and provide a powerful example to the developing world. As U.S. policymakers struggle to triage their time and resources among challenges like ISIS, the rise of China, and an adventurous Russia, Latin America is often relegated to a secondary priority. As a consequence, the United States often misses opportunities to greatly increase its strength and that of its allies. The essential questions when analyzing a region are " How does this region fit into our strategies? How does this region

Surveying Contemporary Latin American International Security Approaches and Themes

Naval War College Journal/Rev da Escola de Guerra Naval, 2018

The aim of this article is twofold: provide a brief review of the most recent handbooks of International Security in Latin America published in English language and, by doing so, provide a brief mapping and evolution of the main themes, issues and theories used to study the international security in Latin America as these are reflected in these handbooks. In a region where many scholars diagnose a theoretical and methodological gap/ deficiency, the four handbooks selected in this text pave the way to more powerful approaches to understand and explain security and defense in Latin America.

Views on National Security in Latin America

In K. Malley-Morrison, S. McCarthy, & D. Hines (Eds.), International handbook on war, torture, and terrorism (pp. 273-282). New York, NY: Springer., 2013

How do the citizens in Latin American countries view issues of national security? Is it tied primarily to external or to internal threat? Are threats to the environment considered a threat to national security? Are incidents of violence against minority groups considered a threat to national security? Are interventionist policies from outside Latin America that support particular regimes a threat? What do the people expect of their governments in terms of offering protection? To what extent is national security seen as essential to individual and family security? This chapter attempts to address these questions.

Traditional and Non- Traditional Security Issues in Latin America: Evolution and Recent Developments

Introduction In the second part of the 20th century, the world’s attention focused twice on Latin America, first during the Cuban crisis in 1962 and then during the conflicts in Central America in the Eighties and Nineties. The situation there had a direct impact on the general balance of the planet. It was a hot spot. Today this region is not on the agenda anymore: it no longer represents a global threat in terms of security. It should nevertheless not be neglected for the following two reasons. First, the evolution of Latin America in the security field, from the period of independence to nowadays, compared with Europe and the rest of the world, is original. Second, huge efforts are presently being done at the hemispheric and regional levels in order to consolidate peace and promote solutions to the so-called ‘transnational’ threats.

The United States National Security Strategy under Bush and Obama: Continuity and Change

University of Tehran, 2017

The foreign policy of states determines the way they behave in the international arena. Accurate analysis of official foreign policy documents of a country is helpful in that it shows what the international priorities of a country are at specific periods. This article reviews the U.S. National Security Strategy documents published in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2015 from the perspective of the perception of threats to the U.S. security and perception of the U.S. role in the world. It tries to study the differences and similarities between the Bush and Obama administrations in this regard using a Neoclassical Realist framework. The results show that the Obama administration identified a wider range of threat sources to U.S. national security while providing less detailed solutions to them. Also, as democracy promotion abroad ceased to be a priority in 2015, compared to 2002 and 2006, counterterrorism continues to be at the top of U.S. security agenda. In line with Neoclassical Realism, creation of an international order under U.S. leadership is an important priority mentioned in the NSS of 2015.

Security Trends in Latin America (NATO School Oberramergau)

2007

If we want to understand the recent evolution of Latin America in the field of security, we need to say a word about two key elements: - The globalisation process which took place in the Seventies and the Eighties on that continent as well as in other parts of the world; - The relationship between Latin America and the United States: very strong presence historically. Today, other actors exist in the political field, as well as in the economic field; but not in the strategic field where the US is still very predominant.