Security Governance in Latin America

• In Event: Power dynamics and regional security in Latin America

Abstract

While electoral democracy has flourished and economies have grown in Latin America since the 1990s, countries in the region continue experiencing weak implementation of the rule of law, increasing inequality and high levels of violence perpetrated by organized crime. Why is this apparent contradiction taking place in the region? An array of reasons converges to explain insecurity in Latin America: illiberal democracy, lack of development, corruption and defective implementation of the rule of law, among others. While insecurity in Latin America is multi-causal, this chapter focuses on one aspect: the challenging gap between a variety of security risks and threats and the lack of instruments at different levels of aggregation to address them in an effective way. In spite of the fact that security policymaking is dominated by a traditional inward-looking paradigm that inhibits further cooperation, largely explained by historical reasons, the region has been slowly moving forward in the development of regional security governance mechanisms at different levels. The paper develops the argument in three sections. After looking at the characteristics of power shifts in Latin America in the first section, it explores the debates on global governance and security governance in Latin America in the second. Based on the notion of geographical reach and policy instruments, the third section examines the main security threats in the region and suggests fours levels of aggregation of instruments to construct security governance (hemispheric, regional, bilateral and domestic).

Author

• Roberto Domínguez, Suffolk University