Thursday, January 04, 2007

The military and security in Latin America

I am following up on a post by Boz, as he wonders about the role of the military as security issues become more important in Latin America, especially in light of recent stories about Mexico sending soldiers to Tijuana and Brazil to Rio. A few thoughts.

First, military politicization in Latin America has never turned out well for democracy. This doesn’t necessarily mean a coup, but can come in the form of intimidating elected officials, human rights abuses (as soldiers seek out the “enemy”), mission creep, and the like. Plus, it will almost certainly entail the shift of scarce resources to military budgets.

Second, in almost every Latin American country, the military has a legally established domestic role, and utilizing soldiers only reinforces the military’s notion that it is the rightful protector of la Patria, and that it is being called upon because civilian governments are failing to do so.

Third, the dynamics of this domestic role are different. In the past, the military became involved in political and/or ideological conflicts. It would support a government against opposition, or vice versa. Gang-based violence and organized crime isn’t the same, as they are well-armed but socially and politically isolated phenomena. It may well mean that there is greater popular support for military action (as there is in Colombia) because the targets are widely viewed as illegitimate. There was widespread support for Marxism, but not for drug trafficking and kidnapping.

Boz brings up some other pertinent questions, such as how different governments will respond. How do security and populism work together? Will we see more presidents elected on a security platform?

1 comments:

John E. Griffiths-Spielman 9:48 PM  

Dear Professor Weeks

I do agree with you that using military force is not adequate for threats that are non military in their nature. Moreover, these forces are not trained, equipped and prepared to face those kinds of challenges. The problem is that the Armed Forces are carrying out these missions because the governments in Mexico and Brazil are demanding these new tasks. In other words, it is the political body who is demanding this function and not the military. I am very positive that any Army is not willing to develop activities related to public security in the realm of the police forces. A second problem, is that Latin American countries are in a incipient process of state making without proper professional corp of police. Consequently, the state finds in the armed forces the most proper organization that could tackle the public order. That is why there exits a domestic role for soldiers.

I do agree that the dynamics of the domestic role are different but sometimes the armed force are the only tool available. Since I Know the latinamerican Armed Forces very close, I could assure that some of them are very professional, such as the chilean. In this case they have very clear what are their professional missions in facing external threats and in cooperate to a more stable international environment and peaceful region, as it is being demonstrated in Haiti.

A good topic to talk.
My Best

John Griffiths.

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