Militarizing the Global South (original) (raw)
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This chapter shows how areas of the global South have moved from the periphery to the center of academic and policy debates about international security. It argues that speaking about the global South as a singular, uniform unit is fraught with difficulties, analytically and politically, and that areas of the global South are occupying an increasingly central, yet ambivalent and contradictory position, within contemporary international security. On the one hand, the global South appears in the figure of the " weak state " as a major threat. On the other, the global South performs as the " intervener state " by contributing the majority of personnel to peacekeeping missions in the world's trouble spots. The chapter seeks to capture this contradictory position of being part problem, part solution. It concludes that the global South is likely to continue to occupy a central place within international security and that the contradictions are likely to multiply.
MULTINATIONAL MILITARY FORCES IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
Appris, 2023
This book examines multinational military forces in the Global South and their connections with the global diffusion phenomenon of multinational military cooperation. In the 21st century, three international military organizations with standing headquarters in the Global South have emerged in the field of military operations. These are the Southern Cross Peace Force in Latin America, the Africa Standby Force in Africa, and the Peninsula Shield Force in the structures of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Yet the scholarly literature on multinational operations has given little attention to these organizations and is mostly focused on the Western hemisphere, particularly on European military organizations. So far, military organizations led by peripheral countries in the Global South have been neglected in systematic and comparative analyses. This book seeks to address this gap and use a novel comparative framework to examine inter-organizational differences and similarities in these three important cases. It aims to provide a gateway for theoretical growth now and for future studies, in the Global South and elsewhere. The book demonstrates that, in a global field of military management dominated by standards and resources from central countries, the phenomena of organizational isomorphism and external dependence tend to interweave in the formation of multinational forces in the Global South. A common condition is analyzed through case studies: isodependence. From historical, critical, and postcolonial studies, the book explores how the epistemic autonomy to conduct such force models in the peripheries is constrained in the context of a security geoculture whereby specific attributions, knowledge, and security functions have been unevenly distributed in the modern world system. This book will be of great interest to researchers of military studies, security studies, sociology and conflict studies, and IR in general.
Weiss Kuele (2019) The Global South and UN Peace Operations.pdf
The Global South and UN Peace Operations, 2019
The countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America provide around 92 percent of all military and police personnel for United Nations (UN) peace operations, while contributing about 15 percent of the budget. China—hardly a legitimate representative of the Global South as the world’s second largest economy and a permanent member of the Security Council—inflates the latter number because its financial contribution amounts to over 10 percent of the total. The West thus foots the bill; but since the late 1990s when even traditional peacekeeping became more dangerous, they have been unwilling to send their own personnel where the risks are high and their national interests minimal. One former force commander summarized to one of the authors, “The willing are not capable, and the capable not willing.” In short, the West makes use of “hired help” from developing countries, or what David Malone and Ramesh Thakur dubbed “racism in peacekeeping.”[2] Philip Cunliffe views the North-South rift as a reflection of liberal imperialism.[3] Nonetheless, are troop-contributing countries from the Global South merely victims and passive? If not, why and how have they actively contributed to UN peace operations? Before answering those questions, we provide a brief overview of how and when the UN’s military landscape changed. We conclude by examining the nature of various long-standing reform proposals under consideration that have particular resonance for the Global South.
2021
In the post-Cold War era, only three international military organizations with standing headquarters made up exclusively of militaries of states in the Global South have emerged in the field of peace operations. These are the Southern Cross Binational Peace Force in South America, the African Standby Force, integrating five sub-regional African forces, and the Peninsula Shield Force in the command structures of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The overall objective of this thesis is to analyze the factors that constrain and promote autonomous practices with multinational military forces in the regions of the Global South in the period 2000-2020. As a research hypothesis, we defend that, in a global field of military crisis management dominated by standards and capitals from central countries, the phenomena of organizational isomorphism and external dependence tend to interweave in the formations of multinational military forces in the Global South. For the analysis, we conceptualize a common condition – iso-dependence – in the peripheral formation of international military organizations. Further, this research uses a typological-comparative framework to analyze the organizational and operational differences between the three mentioned multinational military forces. From historical, critical, and postcolonial studies, we argue that the epistemic autonomy to conduct such force models in the peripheries is constrained in the context of a security geo-culture whereby specific attributions, knowledge, and security functions have been unevenly distributed in the modern world-system.
Multinational military forces in the Global South: Isodependence and the quest for autonomy
Appris, 2023
This book examines multinational military forces in the Global South and their connections with the global diffusion phenomenon of multinational military cooperation. In the 21st century, three international military organizations with standing headquarters in the Global South have emerged in the field of military operations. These are the Southern Cross Peace Force in Latin America, the Africa Standby Force in Africa, and the Peninsula Shield Force in the structures of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Yet the scholarly literature on multinational operations has given little attention to these organizations and is mostly focused on the Western hemisphere, particularly on European military organizations. So far, military organizations led by peripheral countries in the Global South have been neglected in systematic and comparative analyses. This book seeks to address this gap and use a novel comparative framework to examine inter-organizational differences and similarities in these three important cases. It aims to provide a gateway for theoretical growth now and for future studies, in the Global South and elsewhere. The book demonstrates that, in a global field of military management dominated by standards and resources from central countries, the phenomena of organizational isomorphism and external dependence tend to interweave in the formation of multinational forces in the Global South. A common condition is analyzed through case studies: isodependence. From historical, critical, and postcolonial studies, the book explores how the epistemic autonomy to conduct such force models in the peripheries is constrained in the context of a security geoculture whereby specific attributions, knowledge, and security functions have been unevenly distributed in the modern world system. This book will be of great interest to researchers of military studies, security studies, sociology and conflict studies, and IR in general. E-book available in Amazon https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0C94ZLNWW... Also, Google Play – books, Kobo, and Apple Books.
Cultural Dynamics, 2019
We propose that contemporary militarization be understood as part of the continued legacy and consequence of colonial practices and (neo-)imperial logics. We reveal how, in spaces characterized by the palimpsestic legacies and consequences of colonialism and militarization, the latter functions as an accumulative process that glosses over, silences, and normalizes past and present practices of violence and control. Accordingly, the process of demilitarization begins by deconstructing these multiple layers, especially in countries with very recent histories of coloniality. Lampedusa and Lebanon both serve as case studies of contemporary epistemologies of militarization within and beyond the fluid contours of today's Global South. They are deeply contested sites whose dense imperial, colonial, and militarized histories are embodied in generations of inhabitants, the consequences of which resonate in real-time. The future of these sites and their populaces are open-ended, and how individuals and collectives will remember and represent them remains, in many ways, contingent on current events.