Intermediate Spaces: Shifting Security Threats and State Responses

• In Event: International Security: Old or New Affairs? I

Abstract

In Latin America, interstate war has been relatively rare, and seems to have become even less likely since the region’s shift toward democracy at the end of the 20th century. At the same time, however, security threats such as organized crime seem to have intensified in many countries. This paper will take a broad look at the region to consider both the extent to which security issues have displaced defense issues as primary threats, and the extent to which military and security organizations have adapted or been reconfigured to address these changes. In particular, I examine the extent to which states have responded by: (1) shifting the balance between the size of the military and police forces; (2) expanding the military’s internal security roles; or (3) implementing or expanding hybrid forces in order to address these threats. I then seek to explain variations in how states respond, examining how public opinion about the military and police, the historical role of the military, and levels of violent crime may affect state responses.

Author

• Deborah L Norden, Whittier College