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1. The U.S. Military in Support of Strategic Objectives in Latin America and the Caribbean

Author:
Dr. R. Evan Ellis
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
This article examines the role that the U.S. military plays, and can play, in advancing U.S. strategic objectives in Latin America, with a focus on security cooperation and administration of security assistance efforts, as part of coordinated whole-of-government approach. It argues for greater U.S. military attention to the development and application of strategic concepts built around strengthening governance, as the approach that is both appropriate to sensitivities and limitations regarding the employment of U.S. armed forces in Latin America, and as an effective bulwark against the cycle of criminality, corruption, and populism that opens the door for significant strategic threats against the United States. These include authoritarian anti–U.S. governments that serve as enablers for widespread criminality, terrorist threat networks, and collaboration with hostile extra-hemispheric state actors such as Russia and the People's Republic of China.
Topic:
Corruption, Military Strategy, Governance, Hegemony, Strategic Interests, and Influence
Political Geography:
Latin America, Caribbean, North America, and United States of America

2. The Venezuelan Crisis and Salvador Allende's Glasses

Author:
Juan S. Gonzalez
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
The situation in Venezuela is deeply worrisome, and the countries of the hemisphere have an important responsibility to the Venezuelan people. It is also in the national interest of the United States for Venezuela to prosper as a nation, while seeking to pursue policies supported by its people through a stable and fair democratic process. There is a serious lack of meaningful and productive dialogue between the Venezuelan government and its own people at a time when the country’s economy is in crisis. The United States can and should lead, but it should follow the lead of the Venezuelan opposition, and avoid reverting to the Cold War-era unilateral action that until recently defined much of our foreign policy toward the region. Such an approach will not usher Venezuela back to its place as one of the most economically and politically consequential countries in Latin America. At least that is what Allende’s glasses seem to say.
Topic:
Corruption, Governance, Democracy, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
South America, Venezuela, North America, and United States of America

3. Only Connect: the Survival and Spread of Organized Crime in Latin America

Author:
Ivan Briscoe and David Keseberg
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Deeply entrenched over decades, organized crime has married with systemic corruption and high levels of impunity to generate multiple forms of political and economic capital across the ideological spectrum in Latin America. But recent experience gives some provisional grounds for optimism. The end point of popular disaffection with flawed democracies and illicit links between criminal groups, political elites, and the private sector need not inevitably result in an embrace of authoritarianism and/or charismatic caudillos.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, Authoritarianism, Democracy, Private Sector, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Latin America and North America

4. Saving Democracy Abroad

Author:
Robert M. Perito and Donald J. Planty
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
Democratic governments are under siege around the world from forces that threaten the basic principles of representative government—freely elected leaders, democratic institutions, and the rule of law. In countries as diverse as Azerbaijan, Cambodia, and Egypt, authoritarian leaders have “snuffed out civil society, suborned or faked elections, asphyxiated free expression, and repressed human rights.” Populist regimes are consolidating power in Europe and Latin America where citizens have lost faith in political institutions and rejected conventional leaders. Centralized authoritarian governments in Russia and China have put forward an alternative autocratic governance model and are striving for world leadership. Meanwhile, democracy in the United States has taken a dangerous turn.
Topic:
Corruption, Governance, Authoritarianism, Elections, Democracy, and Leadership
Political Geography:
Global Focus

5. Confronting the Threat of Corruption and Organized Crime in Afghanistan: Implications for Future Armed Conflict

Author:
Tim Sullivan and Carl Forsberg
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
As the conflict in Afghanistan has evolved over the last decade, it has become apparent that of the many challenges the country and its international partners face, few are as complex, pervasive, and threatening as corruption and organized crime. Together, corruption and organized crime have undermined efforts to build Afghan institutions, consolidate security gains, achieve political progress, encourage economic growth, and set conditions for enduring stability. These problems, however, are not unique to the war in Afghanistan. Conflicts elsewhere in recent decades have revealed that states engaged in or emerging from insurgencies and civil wars—especially those in which institutions are weak, rule of law is minimal, and substantial international resources have been injected with inadequate oversight—are particularly susceptible to the proliferation of corruption and organized crime.
Topic:
Corruption
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

6. The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands

Author:
Andrew Leith
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is an Australian led diplomatic intervention which deployed in July 2003 to establish peace and security. RAMSI has a “light” military presence and a strong emphasis on law and justice, democratic governance, and economic growth. The efforts of RAMSI and other donors have led to short-term successes. Challenges remain in the police and justice sectors, including entrenched corruption, poor resourcing, inability to recruit and retain qualified legal staff, lack of engagement with traditional justice systems, and outsourcing much of the daily work. The economic system is unsustainable, driven by large infusions of international aid and a rapid expansion of the forestry sector. The apparent stabilization success of RAMSI is undermined by fragile rule of law, short-term economic growth, and an electoral and political system which is both corrupt and nepotistic. For the same reasons that plague reconstruction and stabilization efforts in many other postconflict countries, the political instability in the Solomon Islands will continue to undermine the best efforts of RAMSI and the international community.
Topic:
Corruption
Political Geography:
United States