Olmer Muñoz Sánchez, Julie Pontvianne, and Sebastián Álvarez Posada
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
In Colombia, terrorism is not a new threat to national security. Terrorism historically has been closely linked to the existence of an internal armed conflict and to the evolution of the “method of action” (método de acción) carried out by its main and secondary actors (guerrilla fighters, drug traffickers, militiamen). This article aims to analyze the different types of terrorism that have existed in Colombia as well as the way they have affected security and, finally, present its evolution in the national political context, from the signing of the most recent peace accord to the present.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, Treaties and Agreements, Negotiation, and Peace
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
The definition of a National Security Strategy is essential to take a stand in a world of limited resources where competence for access, use, and appropriation of international common spaces is going to escalate. Added to the role of preserving jurisdictional spaces the Armed Forces should develop new roles emerging from the defense of national interest in spaces of diffuse sovereignty in a global scenario of deterioration of governance. The Armed Forces should rethink accordingly their structure, doctrine, organization and capabilities to adapt themselves to those scenarios, in accordance with the guidelines of the National Security Strategy.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Sovereignty, Military Strategy, and Armed Forces
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Organized crime has grown in the world and in the region, and its criminal operations do not escape Uruguay. Among the challenges facing the State, is the fight against organized crime, especially drug trafficking, money laundering and arms theft. Likewise, the links that may arise between organized crime and terrorism must be addressed as a threat. This work aims to reflect about these threats that affect the Security and Defense of the State and what has been their response to this problem that has been placed in a first plane in the public agenda.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Organized Crime
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Despite being a transnational organized crime, drug trafficking has a local impact in terms of security and violence, which is typically managed by non-national state actors. This paper proposes that, given their juridical and material constraints, subnational state agencies, primarily police forces, regulate drug trafficking through a combination of toleration, repression and rent extraction. I also argue that greater coordination within law enforcement agencies at the subnational level leads to lower drug-related violence at the retail dealing level. I illustrate this argument with a subnational comparison of four cases in Argentina and Brazil during the last two decades.
Topic:
Narcotics Trafficking, Regulation, Violence, Drugs, Police, and Organized Crime
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
This article analyses the evolution of the security concept used by Chile. This piece studies the different security dimensions in which Chile operates such as domestic and regional. In this sense, the article also focuses on Chile’s relation towards Latin America and its vocation to be an active actor in peacekeeping operations. Likewise, this article also pays attention to Chile’s involvement in multilateral security organizations such as the current state of the South American Union (UNASUR).
Topic:
Security, Human Security, and South American Union (UNASUR)
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Regional cooperation in defense and security is the result of a long process that has been strongly influenced by the confluence of regional and subregional experiences, as well as by the different stages of development of regionalism. These experiences provided valuable capital for the creation of spaces for dialogue among countries that would allow addressing issues related to divergences and asymmetries in defense, as well as the generation of mutual trust with the aim of deactivating persisting conflict hypothesis in the region and address regional positions in the face of common threats.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, Defense Policy, and Regional Cooperation
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Although Brazil has always been considered one of the most violent countries in the region, in the last years, violence has grown exponentially and has also become more complex. The present paper seeks to show how the increase of violence, especially in the North and Northeast of Brazil, is related to the dispute between different criminal organizations, by the illicit drug market since the end of the non-aggression agreement that the Primeiro Comando da Capital and the Comando Vermelho had. From a qualitative approach, combining documentary analysis of primary and secondary sources, with interviews with experts, our work tries to answer the following questions: What is the current situation of violence in Brazil and how has it been re-signified? After that, we will relate that mutation to the complex variety of criminal organizations that operate in its territory; and, finally, we will answer how these organizations relate to each other. The result of this work will enable the development of multiple lines of research, especially related to the confrontation between criminal organizations and the illicit drug market in Brazil.
Topic:
Narcotics Trafficking, Violence, and Organized Crime
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
The South American Defense Council creation was a gradual, complex and multidirectional process. From the beginning, two organizational models marked the negotiations pulse. The forum of politic dialogue and coordination was in constant friction –direct and indirect, depending of the momentum- with the collective security alliance option. The first one was promoted by Brazil and the second one by Venezuela. The article examines Argentina’s position during the work group negotiation of the Council facing both models. In addition, it also analyzes how that position affected the Council’s profile. Argentina went through an unconfident position to an explicit support to the new institution. The main reasons are in this paper.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Regional Cooperation, Integration, and South American Union (UNASUR)