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301. The Prospects for Changes in U.S. Policy towards Latin America

Author:
Bartlomiej Znojek
Publication Date:
02-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The Biden administration will seek to rebuild the U.S. reputation and influence in Latin America. It will strengthen cooperation with Latin American partners in the field of climate change and the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, among others. The pandemic and its socio-economic impacts will increase the scale of the challenges facing the U.S. in its relations with Latin America, including in migration and development cooperation. The Biden administration’s approach to the region may facilitate the U.S.-EU dialogue, for example, on efforts to overcome the political and humanitarian crises in Venezuela.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Cooperation, Migration, European Union, and Joe Biden
Political Geography:
Latin America, Venezuela, North America, and United States of America

302. Operation Condor, The War on Drugs, and Counterinsurgency in the Golden Triangle (1977-1983)

Author:
Adela Cedillo
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In the late 1960s, the Mexican government launched a series of counternarcotics campaigns characterized by the militarization of drug production zones, particularly in the northwestern region—the so-called Golden Triangle, epicenter of both production and trafficking of marijuana and opium poppy since the 1930s. Operations Canador (1969–1975) and Trizo (1976) served as a laboratory for methods to curb drug production, ranging from harassment of drug growers to the aerial defoliation of illicit crops. Operation Condor (1977–1988) combined and enhanced these strategies, wreaking havoc on communities of alleged drug growers, but without entirely disrupting the drug industry. This paper explores the role of the US government in the militarization of Mexico’s anti-drug policy, underscoring how the ruling party (the Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI) took advantage of this shift to tackle domestic issues and reassert its hegemony. I argue that Operation Condor functioned as a counterinsurgency campaign oriented to thwart both social and armed movements, eliminate competitors in the narcotics market, and reorganize the drug industry to protect successful drug lords. Operation Condor also caused the decentralization of the drug industry from the northwest and created a new clientelistic pact between drug lords and national security agencies, such as the Federal Security Directorate (DFS), the Office of the Attorney General of Mexico–Federal Judicial Police (PGR-PJF), and the Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA), which benefited from drug proceeds. Finally, the de facto state of siege imposed in the Golden Triangle produced thousands of victims of harassment, torture, rape, murder, forced-disappearance, and displacement; massive human rights abuses that authorities either concealed or denied.
Topic:
Security, Corruption, Human Rights, Governance, Social Movement, History, Borders, and Violence
Political Geography:
Latin America, North America, Mexico, and United States of America

303. Violence in Post-Revolutionary Mexico

Author:
Gema Kloppe-Santamaría
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Despite the formal end of civil war and armed conflict, Mexico continued to experience significant levels of violence during the 1930s and 1940s. This period has traditionally been associated with the process of pacification, institutionalization, and centralization of power that enabled the consolidation of rule in post-revolutionary Mexico; a process epitomized by the marked national decline in levels of homicide that began during the 1940s and continued throughout the second half of the twentieth-century. However, the dynamics of coercion and resistance that characterized state-society relations during this period, particularly at the regional and local levels, reveal that violence pervaded all aspects of society and that it was perpetrated by a multiplicity of actors, including vigilantes, pistoleros, private militias, lynch mobs, military, police, and others, including violent entrepreneurs. Violence was used both as a means to contest the legitimacy of the post-revolutionary state project and as an instrument of control and coercion on behalf of political elites and local power brokers. Conversely, violence superseded the realm of traditional politics and constituted a central force shaping Mexican society. Violence against women in both the public and private sphere, violence driven by economic interests, and violence incurred in citizens’ attempts to control crime and social transgressions, reveal that citizens—and not only state actors—contributed to the reproduction of violence. Although violence in post-revolutionary Mexico was neither centralized nor exercised in a top-down manner, impunity and collusion between criminal and political elements were central to the production and perpetuation of violence, both within the Mexican state and within civil society. When examined in light of these two decades of the post-revolutionary period, the character and levels of violence in contemporary Mexico appear less as an aberration and more as the latest expression of a longer historical trajectory, uneven and nonlinear, of decentralized, multifaceted, and multi-actor forms of violence.
Topic:
Security, Religion, Culture, Peacekeeping, Democracy, Conflict, and Violence
Political Geography:
Latin America, North America, and Mexico

304. Impact of COVID-19 in Peru: Unpredictability, inefficiency and institutional crisis/Impacto del COVID-19 en Perú: Imprevisión, ineficiencia y crisis institucional

Author:
Paz Milet and Gabriela Bravo
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
This article addresses the degree of institutional preparedness of Peru to deal with the effects of the pandemic COVID-19. It is argued that the country was not in the best condition to face this health phenomenon, in a context of institutional weakness, economic stagnation and the inability to overcome some of its historical and permanent structural deficiencies. Despite the political efforts made and the measures adopted, all these have failed to have a positive impact on the population due to the structural fragility of the health system. In addition, Peru had to face an internal political crisis that negatively affected the strategic direction of the pandemic. The armed forces have played a limited role essentially reduced to logistical support. All in all, a dissociation between restrictive policies and the results obtained have been identified, due to structural deficiencies. of the health system to cope with the pandemic./El presente artículo aborda el grado de preparación institucional del Perú para enfrentar los efectos de la pandemia conocida como COVID-19. Se plantea que el país no estaba en la mejor condición para hacer frente a este fenómeno sanitario, en un contexto de debilidad institucional, estancamiento económico y con la incapacidad de superar algunas de sus deficiencias estructurales históricas y permanentes. Pese a los esfuerzos políticos desarrollados y las medidas adoptadas, estas no han logrado tener un impacto positivo en la población por la fragilidad estructural del sistema de salud. Adicionalmente, el Perú ha debido enfrentar una crisis política interna que ha afectado negativamente el direccionamiento estratégico de la pandemia en que las fuerzas armadas han tenido un papel limitado a capacidades logísticas. Con todo, se identifica una disociación entre las políticas restrictivas y los resultados obtenidos, producto de la incapacidad de las deficiencias estructurales.
Topic:
Fragile States, Institutions, COVID-19, and Political Crisis
Political Geography:
Latin America and Peru

305. COVID-19 and the security sector in Ecuador: A case of strategic surprise/El COVID-19 y el sector securitario en Ecuador: Un caso de sorpresa estratégica

Author:
Lester Cabrera Toledo
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
This article tries to reflect on the situation experienced by the security sector in Ecuador during the first 3 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this sense, it starts presenting the diffuse strategic planning, the weakness of the strategic intelligence system existing in Ecuador and how as a consequence of the events experienced in October 2019, the security sector was hit by a “strategic surprise” when the pandemic occurred and, as a result, short-term responses were produced without an adequate planning process. It is concluded that although the country has overcome the moment of "strategic surprise", the main challenge lies in the necessity to discuss and make a diagnosis of the situation, through lessons learned, to achieve an understanding of security as a state policy./El presente artículo tiene como principal objetivo reflexionar sobre la situación vivida por el sector securitario en Ecuador, durante el contexto de los primeros 3 meses que el país experimentó los efectos de la pandemia del COVID-19. En este sentido, parte de la hipótesis de que, como consecuencia de los acontecimientos vividos en octubre de 2019, una planificación estratégica difusa, y la debilidad del sistema de inteligencia estratégica, el ámbito securitario se vio envuelto en un proceso de “sorpresa estratégica”, lo que dio como resultado respuestas coyunturales sin el marco de un adecuado proceso de planificación. Se concluye que, si bien el país superó el momento de “sorpresa estratégica”, el principal desafío recae en la necesidad de contar con una discusión sobre el diagnóstico de la situación, por medio de lecciones aprendidas, con el principal objetivo de concebir a la seguridad como una política de Estado.
Topic:
Security, COVID-19, and Strategic Planning
Political Geography:
Latin America and Ecuador

306. COVID-19 and its impact on Chile security and defense scenario/El COVID-19 y su impacto en el escenario de seguridad y defensa de Chile: Impacto nacional y regional

Author:
John Griffiths Spielman and Aldo Cassinelli Capurro
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
The COVID19 pandemic has hit Chile in the midst of a social outbreak, consequently, its impact and effect has also had a degree of politicization among the various political actors. Nonetheless, the health crisis has been skillfully managed by the current authorities, with Chile´s efforts being internationally prominent, both in obtaining supplies and in handling the crisis. The foregoing has presented risks, threats and also opportunities, which in the national case have been overcome thanks to the integration and effective coordination of the various state and non-state actors. In this, the participation of the armed forces has played a crucial role together with other organizations, in the search for solutions that in the case of Chile have allowed to adequately face the pandemic. Notwithstanding, at the regional level, cooperation efforts have not been adequately reflected since an individualistic and competitive attitude has prevailed, without prejudice to the existence of some specific actions or events of interstate solidarity./La pandemia COVID19 ha golpeado a Chile en pleno desarrollo de un estallido social, en consecuencia, su impacto y efecto también ha tenido un grado de politización entre los diversos actores políticos. Sin embargo, la crisis sanitaría ha sido hábilmente manejada por las actuales autoridades, siendo el esfuerzo de Chile destacado internacionalmente, tanto en la obtención de insumos, como en el manejo de la crisis. Lo anterior, ha presentado riesgos, amenazas y también oportunidades, que en el caso nacional se han podido sortear gracias a la integración y efectiva coordinación de los diversos actores estatales y no estatales. En ello, la participación de las fuerzas armadas (FFAAs) ha sido clave junto a otros organismos, para la búsqueda de soluciones que han permitido en el caso de Chile enfrentar adecuadamente la pandemia. Sin embargo, en el plano regional no se han podido plasmar adecuadamente los esfuerzos de cooperación ya que ha primado una actitud individualista y de competencia, sin perjuicio de existir algunas acciones o hechos específicos de solidaridad interestatal.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Regional Cooperation, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Health Crisis
Political Geography:
Latin America and Chile

307. Bolivia and COVID-19, a story of two pandemics/Bolivia y COVID-19: Una historia de dos pandemias

Author:
Joseph M. Humire
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
This article argues that Bolivia has been affected, at the same time, by two pandemics, the political and the sanitary. It also argues that institutional fragility and the weakness of health structures and organizations have been a disadvantage in the management of the pandemic, which has not been free of political influences for the benefit of one or the other side, aggravating and harming, in the end, the most disadvantaged population. This, additionally in an economic context of great informality that has been seriously damaged, affecting the weakest who earn their living in this informal sector of the economy. The internal power struggles in Bolivia have been in practice a factor that has negatively affected the management of the pandemic at the national level./Este artículo plantea que Bolivia ha sido afectada, al mismo tiempo, por dos pandemias, la política y la sanitaria. Adicionalmente plantea que la fragilidad institucional y la debilidad de las estructuras y organizaciones sanitarias han sido una desventaja en el manejo de la pandemia, la que no ha estado exenta de influencias políticas para beneficio de uno u otro bando, agravando y perjudicando al final, a la población más desfavorecida. Ello, adicionalmente en un contexto económico de gran informalidad que se ha visto seriamente dañado, afectando a los más débiles que se ganan la vida en este sector informal de la economía. Las luchas internas de poder en Bolivia han sido en la practica un factor que ha afectado negativamente el manejo de la pandemia a nivel nacional.
Topic:
Health, Institutions, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Latin America and Bolivia

308. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina and in the regional security scenario/Impacto de la pandemia COVID-19 en Argentina y en el escenario regional

Author:
María Lourdes Puente Olivera and Antonio López Llovet
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
The article reviews the effects of the pandemic in Argentina, with a special focus on the areas of security and defense, as well as its effects on the country's foreign policy, in view of the regional and global scenario it has to face. The final conclusion shows the challenges that Argentina has to face to operate in this strategic field, under the uncertainties of the world to come./El artículo versa sobre los efectos que tuvo la pandemia en la Argentina y hace un foco especial en las áreas de seguridad y defensa; además sus efectos en la política exterior del país, en vistas del escenario regional y global que enfrenta. La conclusión final da cuenta de los desafíos que enfrenta Argentina para desenvolverse en este campo estratégico, en la incertidumbre del mundo que viene.
Topic:
Security, Armed Forces, Conflict, Risk, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Argentina and Latin America

309. COVID-19 and the militarization of the State in Brazil/COVID-19 y la militarización del Estado en Brasil

Author:
Thiago Rodrigues, Maíra Fedatto, and Mariana Kalil
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
Brazil has been hit hard by the new coronavirus pandemic. In such a context, there has been an increasing transference of decision-making and policy-making power to the military, and the Brazilian national response to COVID-19 has eventually come under military authority. Based on the current debate on the on-going securitization of public health in the world following the outbreak of the new coronavirus, we engage with recent literature in an attempt to demonstrate Brazil’s singular pattern of military interference in public health. It is our hypothesis that in Brazil there is a process of militarization of the responses to the pandemic without, however, a concomitant process of securitization. This is possible because the Bolsonaro Administration combines denialism toward the COVID-19 pandemic with the gradual delegation of key political roles to the military. We claim, finally, that the Brazilian case of military response to COVID-19 offers analytical instruments to study other cases of imbalance in civil-military relations throughout the Global South./La pandemia del nuevo coronavirus ha impactado severamente a Brasil. En este contexto, las fuerzas armadas han recibido sustancial aumento en su capacidad de decisión y de elaboración de políticas públicas de respuesta a la COVID-19. A partir del presente debate sobre la creciente securitización de la salud pública global en tiempos de pandemia, nosotros convocamos a la literatura reciente sobre el tema con el objetivo de demostrar la originalidad del caso brasileño respeto a la interferencia militar en salud pública. Nuestra hipótesis destaca que en Brasil ha existido un proceso de militarización de las respuestas a la pandemia sin que haya un simultaneo proceso de securitización. Ello es posible porque el Gobierno Bolsonaro combina negacionismo respeto a la pandemia con una gradual delegación a los militares de puestos claves en la toma de decisiones. Argumentamos que el caso brasileño ofrece instrumentos de análisis importantes para el estudio de otros casos de desequilibrio de las relaciones cívico-militares en el Sur Global.
Topic:
Security, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Militarization
Political Geography:
Brazil and Latin America

310. Lights and Shadows in the Professionalization of the National Civil Police of El Salvador after the Peace Agreement of Chapultepec (1992-2017)/Luces y sombras en la profesionalización de la policía nacional civil de El Salvador tras los acuerdos de paz de Chapultepec (1992-2017)

Author:
María Eugenia Bonilla and Jerónimo Ríos
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
The following article tries to analyze the transformation of the Salvadoran police from the implications of the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Agreements. In this way, the 25 years between 1992 and 2017 are taken as the period of study, in order to observe the level of transformation experienced by the new National Civil Police. Making use of an in-depth legislative review and different in-depth interviews, the article analyses in particular the scope and meaning of three dimensions in this transformation: police selection and training, the degree of delimitation of the police function and the foundations of the police career. Thus, while it is true that important progress has been made, it is possible to find shortcomings and weaknesses that persit, after more than two decades, in a way that is so worrying that it must be resolved./El siguiente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la transformación de la policía salvadoreña a partir de las implicaciones que tuvieron los Acuerdos de Paz de Chapultepec de 1992. De este modo, se toma como tiempo de estudio los 25 años que transcurren entre 1992 y 2017, para así observar el nivel de transformación experimentado por la nueva Policía Nacional Civil. Haciendo uso de una profunda revisión legislativa y de diferentes entrevistas en profundidad, se analiza en concreto el alcance y significado de tres dimensiones en particular: la selección y formación policial, el grado de delimitación de la función policial y los fundamentos de la carrera policial. Así, si bien es cierto que se han conseguido importantes avances, es posible encontrar carencias y debilidades que, tras más de dos décadas, persisten de manera tan preocupante como irresoluta.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, Police, and Professionalization
Political Geography:
Latin America and El Salvador

311. Economic Crisis and Elections: A Recipe for Turbulence in Latin America

Author:
Jimena Blanco
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Fletcher Security Review
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
Latin America experienced the second biggest pandemicinduced economic contraction of any region in 2020, just behind the Euro-zone, and Verisk Maplecroft’s Recovery Capacity Index—which measures more than a dozen factors that determine a region’s ability to recover from the crisis—puts Latin America below all but Africa in recovery capability. The resulting social and economic distress has worsened longstanding inequalities and acted as a catalyst for civil unrest. Despite restrictive lockdowns, the pandemic crisis and economic shock sparked demonstrations across the region throughout 2020 as governments proved unable to meet even the most basic needs of their populations. A string of general elections scheduled for 2021 will take place against a backdrop of a surge in poverty and unemployment, setting the stage for another unstable year. With forecasts from the International Monetary Fund projecting the regional economy unlikely to recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, and household incomes not until 2025, this situation will continue. Falling tax receipts will cripple governments’ ability to address spiralling demands from already impoverished workers likely to be pushed into even lower-paid, unstable, and informal jobs. Young people and informal workers who average 60 percent of the regional labour force, on data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, will continue to be disproportionately affected. Dissatisfied and often disenfranchised, these sections of society can be particularly restive, able to mobilise fast in political or anti-establishment protests.
Topic:
Elections, COVID-19, Civil Unrest, and Economic Crisis
Political Geography:
Latin America

312. Implementing the Peace Agreement in Colombia: Challenges for peacebuilding and reconciliation

Author:
Johanna Amaya-Panche
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
European Union Institute for Security Studies
Abstract:
In 2016, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace agreement after three years of negotiations and at least four failed peace talks since 1982. The implementation of the peace agreement has been monitored and verified by international actors with technical, humanitarian and financial resources to promote peacebuilding and reconciliation. This Brief examines the challenges of implementing the peace agreement and explores how the European Union can support the implementation process and reconciliation efforts in Colombia. The Brief analyses first the state of play in the implementation of the peace agreement and its main challenges. Secondly, it presents an analysis of local-level violence. Thirdly, it highlights how peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts can mitigate local conflict dynamics. Finally, it concludes with policy implications and recommendations for supporting the implementation of the peace accord and shows how the EU can positively contribute to peacebuilding and reconciliation at the local level.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, War, Conflict, Peace, and Reconciliation
Political Geography:
Colombia, South America, and Latin America

313. Digital Equity as an Enabling Platform for Equality and Inclusion

Author:
Laura E. Bailey and Nanjala Nyabola
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
The global pandemic has laid bare the digital inequities across vertical (income) and horizontal (social, political, and identity) dimensions, while exposing the extent to which pre-pandemic approaches to bridging the digital divide have been dominated by economic considerations even while they are not universally treated as policy priorities. Access to digital is a product of both material investment and political will. Where there is no conscious effort to include marginalized communities into digitalization plans, these communities can be left behind. In countries where identity-based exclusion is routinely built into political behavior, there can be systematic patterns of exclusion of specific groups (e.g., the indigenous First Peoples of North America, the Roma of Europe, or the Somali of northeast Kenya). Many countries around the world have such communities, and any work to digitalize a country must be founded on politically and socially conscious efforts to include groups that may be left behind by historical marginalization. This brief reviews key aspects of the digital divide, with special attention to exclusion and inequality, emphasizing that poor connectivity isn’t just about wealth—it is also about inequality. This paper examines the following: That COVID-19 has shown how poor policymaking in digital access and use deepens the current inequalities in addition to creating new ones, Digital equity through recent thinking, research—and why it matters, and Experience with digital equity initiatives (pre- and post-pandemic). Finally, the authors provide key recommendations for potential digital policies and interventions that can advance equality and inclusion.
Topic:
Inequality, Digital Culture, COVID-19, and Exclusion
Political Geography:
South Asia and Latin America

314. Inclusive COVID-19 Relief Finance

Author:
Amanda Lenhardt
Publication Date:
07-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned all countries’ attention to mitigating the impacts of the crisis, and with this attention has come a wave of finance to address the immediate health risks of the disease and the indirect effects on economies and on well-being. With this influx of spending on welfare and resilience, many have looked on with hope that this collective effort can be done in such a way that the world can ‘build back better.’ But, like any building project, the foundation is critical. This paper sets out to investigate whether countries are investing in the foundational social and economic structures that have led to the vulnerabilities currently upending people’s lives. Failure to address the structural inequalities embedded within societies and across the global political economic structure will ultimately leave the new structure vulnerable to collapse in the long term, and risks exposing marginalized groups to the harshest impacts of the crisis in the short term.
Topic:
Economy, Crisis Management, COVID-19, Marginalization, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
South Asia, East Asia, South Africa, and Latin America

315. Social Contracts: A Pathway for More Inclusive Societies

Author:
Erin McCandless
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
States and societies are in crisis around the world, as questions arise around the nature and quality of existing social contracts. COVID-19 has laid bare profound vulnerabilities within and across societies. The global pandemic is revealing deep failures in policy visions, institutional fragility, and incapacities of states to harness societal compliance where trust and a sense of national belonging is weak. At the same time, our interdependencies have never been so clear, as all countries, developed and underdeveloped alike, confront similar challenges. Crisis, however, offers opportunity to do things better, to build forward better – strengthening social contracts at all levels. How then, can social contracts, and compacting in times of crisis, offer pathways to address inequality and exclusion? This paper considers how social contracts can offer frameworks to foster new thinking and shape transformative policy to build more inclusive societies. Such frameworks should tie bold new policy visions to robust and resilient institutional arrangements that uproot harmful structural legacies with lasting effect for inclusive and peaceful societies. They must also offer means to address material conditions of inequality, and those related to recognition, identity, and dignity. The cases of South Africa, Tunisia, Colombia, and South Korea reveal that, while not easy nor predictable, such pathways exist. Key findings in this briefing include: Inequality and exclusion stem from policy choices and are fueled by corruption; they undermine foundations of inclusive and resilient national social contracts, e.g. trust in government and societal willingness to consent to difficult policy choices; Participation in formal electoral processes is declining while protest is rising, indicating a lack of faith in existing politics and institutional mechanisms for resolving conflict and fostering consensual politics; and Civil society movements in and across countries are advancing more inclusive social contracts that tackle vulnerability and risk through a variety of innovative means that deserve greater support.
Topic:
Peace, Justice, Social Contract, COVID-19, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
Middle East, East Asia, South Africa, and Latin America

316. Mexico 2018-2021: Pandemic, Crisis, Security and Geopolitics/México 2018-2021: Pandemia, Crisis, Seguridad y Geopolítica

Author:
Raúl Benítez Manaut
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
The article starts from the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic re-evaluates the concept of multidimensional security, which emerged from the 2003 meeting of the Organization of American States. It is argued that, at the level of hemispheric geopolitics, it is in the three most populous countries, under the nationalist and populist leaderships of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, where the pandemic has wreaked the most havoc. The similarities in the initial handling of the pandemic, its minus-valuation, the so-called Fourth Transformation policy and its characteristics, deployed by President López Obrador in Mexico and its effect on the militarization of the country are analyzed as well as the impact of the pandemic on the population and the great economic crisis induced. It is concluded that Mexico is experiencing a "militarization with popular support", and that the pandemic has favored the public image of the military. / El artículo se desarrolla sobre la hipótesis de que la pandemia COVID-19 revalora el concepto de seguridad multidimensional, desprendido de la reunión de la Organización de Estados Americanos de 2003. Se afirma que, a nivel de la geopolítica del hemisferio, es en los tres países más poblados, los liderazgos nacionalistas y populistas de Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro y Andrés Manuel López Obrador, donde la pandemia ha causado más estragos. Se analizan las similitudes en el manejo inicial de la pandemia, su minusvaloración, la llamada política de la Cuarta Transformación y sus características, desplegada por el presidente López Obrador en México y el efecto que tiene en la militarización del país; el impacto de la pandemia en la población y la gran crisis económica inducida. Se concluye que México vive una “militarización con respaldo popular”, y que la pandemia ha sido un elemento que ha favorecido a los militares en su imagen pública.
Topic:
Security, Populism, COVID-19, and Militarization
Political Geography:
Brazil, Latin America, Mexico, and United States of America

317. The "Venezuela Factor": COVID-19 in times of Bolivarian Revolution/El “factor Venezuela”: Covid-19 En Tiempos De Revolución Bolivariana

Author:
Rafael Rincón-Urdaneta Zerpa
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Revista UNISCI/UNISCI Journal
Institution:
Unidad de investigación sobre seguridad y cooperación (UNISCI)
Abstract:
COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps and vulnerabilities around the world and, at the same time, has highlighted the demand for more cooperation and commitment from countries to address global risks and challenges. However, not all nations are in a position to meet these demands. In Latin America, hard hit by the pandemic, Venezuela appears as one of the most critical countries. COVID-19 has arrived in a country whose institutional and economic deterioration has been affected by two decades of steep decline. Its democratic institutions are among the worst evaluated on the planet and its economic and social situation has been dramatically reported with the massive exodus of Venezuelans. This article presents a very general diagnosis of what could be called "the Venezuela factor" in the regional context under the prism of COVID-19. / La pandemia del COVID-19 ha expuesto falencias y vulnerabilidades en todo el mundo y ha advertido la demanda de más cooperación y compromiso por parte de los países para enfrentar los riesgos y desafíos globales. Sin embargo, no todas las naciones están en condiciones de asumir estas exigencias. En América Latina, duramente golpeada por la pandemia, Venezuela aparece como uno de los factores más críticos. El COVID-19 ha llegado a un país cuyo deterioro institucional y económico supera las dos décadas de acentuado declive. Sus instituciones democráticas se encuentran entre las peor evaluadas del planeta y su situación económica y social se ha expresado dramáticamente en el éxodo masivo de venezolanos. En este artículo se presenta un diagnóstico muy general de lo que podría llamarse «el factor Venezuela» en el contexto regional bajo el prisma del COVID-19.
Topic:
Security, Regional Cooperation, Leadership, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Latin America and Venezuela

318. The Risks of a Rigged Election in Nicaragua

Author:
International Crisis Group
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
With Nicaraguans heading to the polls in November, the government is already trying to engineer the outcome in its favour. An unfair ballot could spark unrest and a violent crackdown. External actors should push for reforms and dialogue with the opposition while eschewing counterproductive sanctions.
Topic:
Corruption, Elections, Voting, Oppression, Election Interference, and Rigged Elections
Political Geography:
Latin America, Central America, Nicaragua, and North America

319. Spring 2021 edition of Strategic Visions

Author:
Alan McPherson
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Strategic Visions
Institution:
Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy, Temple University
Abstract:
Contents News from the Director Colloquium………………………..2 CENFAD sponsored lectures……...3 Prizes………………………………4 CENFAD Workshop………………4 Thanks to the Davis Fellow……….5 News from the CENFAD Community…6 Note from the Davis Fellow……………9 Book Reviews A Wall of Our Own: An American History of the Berlin Wall Review by Brandon Kinney…..11 Civil Aviation and the Globalization of the Cold War Review by Michael Fischer…..13 Imperial Metropolis: Los Angeles, Mexico, and the Borderlands of American Empire, 1865–1941 Review by Amanda Summers..15 Educating the Empire: American Teachers and Contested Colonization in the Philippines Review by Madison Ingram…17 Fantasy Island: Colonialism, Exploitation, and the Betrayal of Puerto Rico Review by Graydon Dennison..19 Beatriz Allende: A Revolutionary Life in Latin America Review by Michael Onufrak….21
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Cold War, Military Affairs, Empire, Diplomatic History, and Statecraft
Political Geography:
United States, Philippines, Germany, Latin America, Global Focus, and Puerto Rico

320. Reimagining Regional Governance in Latin America

Author:
Federico Merke, Oliver Stuenkel, and Andreas Feldmann
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Latin America’s existing predicament stems from a complex set of interlinked social, economic, and political crises, which have been magnified by the advent of the coronavirus pandemic and a rising tide of isolationism and “antiglobalism.” These crises range from domestic polarization and economic travails, to ideological divergence, personal rivalries among the region’s leaders and U.S.-Chinese geopolitical competition, and all are hampering regional governance and negatively impacting the prospects of cooperation. Latin American governments urgently need to work together to address the manifold challenges they face as events in recent decades have shown that unless better regional mechanisms can be found, domestic and transnational challenges—from organized crime and environmental degradation to migration and anemic economic growth—will become even more difficult to address, with potentially devastating long-term consequences. Yet, despite the high stakes, traditional regional governance mechanisms seem paralyzed, lacking even the capacity to discuss the current untenable situation, let alone address it. The conventional wisdom is that regional cooperation across Latin America is practically nonexistent because its heads of states have insurmountable ideological differences and because the region’s dominant diplomatic institutions have failed to fulfill their purpose. All is not lost in the realm of regional governance, however. While cooperation is either dysfunctional or nonexistent in many dimensions, in others it persists with surprising resilience and vigor, although it is often overlooked or underappreciated. Existing cooperation is for the most part technical and based on the committed work by government officials who, even during the bleakest moments of the pandemic, have shown adherence to principled norms and driven by a refreshing degree of pragmatism. Effective regional governance and cooperation in Latin America is necessary for a broader conversation on the region’s role in a rapidly changing global order, shaped by technological transformation and genuinely global problems such as climate change, migratory pressures, and increasing security threats. As great power competition continues to shape the global order, Latin America often is regarded as a peripheral player. Yet far from being somehow apart or exempt from today’s rising geopolitical currents, Latin America, for better or for worse, is very much affected by them. Regional governance is a fundamental instrument to help Latin America overcome its numerous daunting challenges. Even when ideological differences make cooperation difficult at the high politics level, it is crucial to find avenues of progress at other levels and in informal or less visible ways.
Topic:
Politics, Regional Cooperation, Governance, Economy, and Ideology
Political Geography:
Latin America