Search

Begin New Search Content Type Journal Article Publication Year within 3 Years

1641. From the Great Influenza to COVID-19: Epidemics of Scale through a Historical Lens

Author:
Fedir Razumenko
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
COVID-19 has galvanized changes in the economy of patient-doctor relationships and technological interfaces across the healthcare system. A rapid adoption of technologies that were previously slow to take hold opened more diverse and accessible spaces for care. At the same time, some persistent barriers in pivoting to scientific-medical advances in managing the pandemic revealed stark inequities in both access to care and exposure to risk. Political and organizational responses to the crisis often excluded the perspectives of vulnerable groups bearing more burdens than others. Some patients and healthcare providers suffered in isolation, however these experiences have escaped public attention due to the fragmented Canadian health information infrastructure. The social meanings of and collective responses to the pandemic nationally are rooted in historical developments. Comparative analyses of epidemic crises along with their consequences have the potential to inform our critical evaluations of problem-solving approaches and policymaking when what we do not know about the issue exceeds what we know. This article demonstrates that historical analysis serves an important role in examining the complex interaction of social and biological forces that constitute epidemic disease. By linking the past and present of epidemic crises we can better understand how social and scientific-medical responses to epidemics shift following the epidemic experience. To be forewarned is to be forearmed acquires a definite meaning as historical contexts set a background for assessing new situations. The COVID-19 pandemic has not emerged out of thin air, so tracing its origin and development is simultaneously a scientific and an historical undertaking.
Topic:
Crisis Management, Public Health, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Epidemic
Political Geography:
Canada, North America, and Global Focus

1642. COVID-19 in Alberta

Author:
James F. Keeley
Publication Date:
02-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The security consequences of disease cannot be doubted, even by hard-core “traditional” security students: the plague in Athens in the early Peloponnesian War, plagues elsewhere in the ancient world, the Black Death, and the role of sickness in Cortez’s conquest of the Aztecs (much less the broader colonization of the New World), are only a few examples which come readily to mind. Whether in their international or in their domestic politics and, in the intertwining of the two, the consequences of disease have affected the affairs of states. While the effects of COVID-19 may not yet rise to the mass deaths of earlier cases (at least in developed and semi-developed states), the mitigating effects of modern science and medicine being as they are, the consequences for state security – much less the security of individuals – are already notable. This alone justifies an examination of the domestic and international effects of COVID-19, not just in terms of health but also in its economic, social and political aspects.
Topic:
Security, Health, Politics, Economy, COVID-19, and Society
Political Geography:
Canada, North America, and Alberta

1643. Non-State-Actors and the Subterranean Dimension

Author:
Eran Zohar
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
This study explores the use of the subterranean dimension (tunnels, bunkers, shelters) by non-state-actors across time and place. The study reveals that from antiquity rebel groups have exploited below-ground structures, artificial and manmade, to preserve their force and to attack superior enemies. The decision of rebellious NSAs to exploit the subterranean dimension has been the result of their physical and social environment, their operational approach and ability to execute it, accessible technology, relationships with the civilian population, impact of culture and myths, and counter measures by the states. Control over territory allows present NSAs to construct elaborate subterranean facilities, but new uncovering technologies introduced by Israel are endangering the NSAs’ last secure channel.
Topic:
Non State Actors, Armed Forces, Subterranean, and Military
Political Geography:
Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

1644. Military Culture 2.0: The Female Cadet’s Approach, Feminine Competencies, and Pan-Critical Feminism - Drawing examples from American and Norwegian Special Forces

Author:
Mariah Loukou
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Military values of honour, courage and loyalty are synonymous to male soldiers due to the association of the military with the alpha-male narrative. However, the everchanging nature of war urges for a new approach. One that is identified with female cadets and feminine competencies. The article explores examples from the U.S. and Norway to show practically how military training and education can benefit from the female soldiers’ approach. To back this argument, the author, explores feminist institutionalism and body politics. The author then suggests a new theoretical tool, pan-critical feminism, as the means to incorporate female values and competencies to represent the changing cohort of military institutions. The article finally discusses military culture through the lens of organisational culture to show that there is space for testing this idea, even though social perceptions create barriers to its implementation.
Topic:
Culture, Armed Forces, Feminism, and Military
Political Geography:
Europe, Norway, North America, and United States of America

1645. Military Officers and the Design Gaze

Author:
Therese Heltberg
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
This paper investigates how design thinking and its appurtenant practices can be integrated into leadership practices in various military contexts. It addresses the findings of a qualitative research study that followed six Danish Defence officers as they worked. The paper investigates how these officers translate and enact design thinking amid efforts to handle specific, complex problems faced in their actual work-life, including the opportunities and barriers that they meet. The paper suggests the concept of a “design gaze” to understand and illuminate how design transforms military officers’ approaches and understandings of specific complex problems as well as their interactions with stakeholders and participants. At the institutional level, the paper points to three organisational problems that were rendered visible through the application of a design approach: “invisible” problems, “homeless” problems, and “transversal” problems. Finally, the paper discusses implications for organisational learning.
Topic:
Armed Forces, Leadership, and Military
Political Geography:
Europe and Denmark

1646. Alone and Unafraid: Advisors and Risk Across the Spectrum of Conflict

Author:
Michael Anderson
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The current structure and employment of the United States Army advisory formations is hindered by risk aversion and lacking organic organizational structure. The result negatively affects the readiness of other units, impacting training and use while failing to maximize their full contributions to defense strategies. Army combat brigade readiness remains negatively impacted by fulfilling out-of-design advisory missions even after the creation of advisory-specific formations and providing support to deployed Security Force Assistance Brigades. In an era of growing great power competition, the maximizing of building and holding readiness is paramount. The question of how to resolve the issue is encapsulated in a discussion of risk-to-force and risk-to-mission. Three solutions include accepting greater risk by not providing additional force protection and emphasizing reliance on partner force support and relationships; creating additional force structure designed to support advisory missions; or adding identified additional force structure to the advisor organizations addressing the risks.
Topic:
Armed Forces, Employment, Military, and Military Structure
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

1647. Why is China Accommodating a Nuclear North Korea?

Author:
Ioan Tuleasca
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The Korean Peninsula's strategic outlook is characterized by what can be ultimately summarized as armed stability derived from a frozen conflict. As described in this paper, China (People’s Republic of China) supports its communist neighbour North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) for political, economic, strategic, social, and philosophic reasons. China’s stance can be associated with its final goal of replacing the United States (US) as the dominant power in East Asia, where the present-day strategic competition between the two economic and military powerhouses does not allow for a breakthrough in solving the Korean conundrum. The prime beneficiary of this situation is North Korea, which continues unabated its quest for military and nuclear superiority even if submitted to harsh international sanctions.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Stability, Military, and Frozen Conflict
Political Geography:
China, Asia, South Korea, and North Korea

1648. Clausewitz’s Friction in War and the United States invasion of Iraq

Author:
Dele Jemirade
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
This article aims to analyze the relevance of Carl von Clausewitz’s theory on Friction in War to the United States invasion of Iraq. It is argued here that the theory of friction of war by Clausewitz is still very relevant in contemporary warfare. Despite that contemporary warfare is characterized by advanced technology, computers, artificial intelligence, and target precision weaponry, there are so many unpredictable things and beyond the control of soldiers on the battlefield, commanding generals, and civilians who are responsible for the planning and its execution. These unpredictable events that can change the outcome of the war are what Clausewitz refers to as the friction in war. In this article, two examples of friction of war are used to analyze the relevance of this theory. These examples are first, the insurgency in Iraq after the removal of President Saddam Hussein, and the declaration of the end of major hostilities by president George W. Bush and secondly, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. These two examples are used because they affected considerably the war plans of the United States in Iraq and therefore suffice as examples of friction of war.
Topic:
Science and Technology, War, Artificial Intelligence, Iraq War, and Carl von Clausewitz
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, North America, and United States of America

1649. Overcoming American Hegemony: The Central Paradox of Chinese and Russian Revisionism

Author:
Adam P. MacDonald
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
China and Russia are adopting increasingly assertive dispositions to reconstitute local geopolitical environments to their strategic advantage, requiring the erosion of American anchored hegemonic networks in their respective home regions. Despite growing material power bases, these pursuits are and will most likely continue to be unsuccessful. First, they are seen as threatening to other regional powers who are increasingly working together to counteract them. Second, these counterbalancing efforts reinforce the importance of the United States, given its still preponderant capabilities and networked centrality, in facilitating the coordination of existing and new political, economic and security arrangements which are increasingly oriented against China and Russia. A central paradox lies at the heart of these powers’ revisionist approaches: their actions inhibit desired new geopolitical realities, principally defined by alignment patterns, from emerging by reinforcing rather than displacing American hegemonic regional networks. Despite the negative strategic results being produced, it is expected both powers will double down on their current approaches to try to impose favorable regional realities before their power capacity wanes as domestic challenges grow. China and Russia are not existential challenges to but rather re-invigorate American hegemonic networks and its leading role within them. The greatest threat to American hegemony is not external but internal in terms of domestic alienation against the hegemonic project itself.
Topic:
Hegemony, Geopolitics, Rivalry, Multipolarity, and Revisionism
Political Geography:
Russia, China, and United States of America

1650. Implementing National Security: The IDF’s Principles for Planning the Israeli Civilian Industry after the Establishment of the State of Israel

Author:
Yoram Fried
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
Most works on national security in democratic states highlight the role of the civilian government or its appointed bodies in defining national security principles. Hence, one of the goals of national security planners is to create guidelines for decision-makers and convince them of their necessity and importance in deterring expected threat. Israel's War of Independence ended with a ceasefire and it was clear to the political and military leadership that a second round of fighting with the Arab countries was only a matter of time and that vital industrial and infrastructure sites would be targeted by enemy attacks during wartime. The IDF leadership quickly realized that the military planning bodies were the sole entities to fully comprehend the country's security needs and therefore should be the only ones authorized to dictate national security requirements. As such, it should also oversee the civilian industrial planning.
Topic:
National Security, Armed Forces, Industry, and Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

1651. A Risk-Increasing Safety Strategy? Evaluating the traditional risk mitigating strategy in dealing with dumped ammunition and explosive remnants of war

Author:
Geir Petter Novik, Morten Sommer, and Eirik Bjorheim Abrahamsen
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Institution:
Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies
Abstract:
In Norway, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of explosive remnants of war remain in nature. It has always been recognized that the ordnance could represent a certain explosive risk if disturbed, and that some of the constituents in the ammunition could be harmful to the environment, but, even so, a tacit assumption by decision makers is that, if left alone, the ammunition will slowly become harmless over time. Some argue, however, that the risks are in fact increasing, not diminishing, with time, and that our current risk management strategy could prove to accelerate the risk rather than mitigate it. This article outlines some of the critical issues facing our current risk reduction strategy, as well as raising some concern as to whether the current strategy could be outdated and in need of revision. This study builds up a picture of how the strategy has evolved over time, and how new knowledge and broader risk perspectives can provide further insights into how this strategy could be revised. The conclusion of this investigation is that, on the basis of improved risk assessments highlighting the complex risk picture and the strength of knowledge concept, there is an urgent need to revise the current risk mitigating strategy.
Topic:
Weapons, Risk, and War Remnants
Political Geography:
Europe and Norway

1652. Domestic Workers: Postcolonial Inheritance and International Relations

Author:
Karen Johanna Pozo
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
The discipline of International Relations (IR) in Latin American is still dominated by positivist and Westernized research. This creates challenges for international studies such as how to visualise the subjects or ‘sujetas’ who participate in national and international politics but are ignored in this field, and how to value the current postcolonial research, which offers critical perspectives that equilibrate the epistemic balance and help build adequate tools to understand different regional phenomena. By analysing a case study of the Association of Women Domestic Employees of Paraguay, this article clarifies how a postcolonial approach enriches the field of IR. This study argues that postcolonialism contributes to this field by making visible cognitive subjects and ‘sujetas’, who offer an alternative knowledge construction to rethink international relations with a meta-theoretical extension, visible. Postcolonialism is the theoretical basis of this qualitative research. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations. This article suggests and concludes that women domestic workers as ‘political subjects’ enrich international relations by offering critical views to the research carried out in the subfields of foreign policy analysis, international political economy, and regionalism.
Topic:
International Relations, Political Economy, Post Colonialism, Domestic Work, and Postcolonial Theory
Political Geography:
Latin America and Paraguay

1653. A Neoinstitutionalist Proposal to Study the BRICS

Author:
Mario Guillermo Guerrero
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
This article seeks to contribute to the current disciplinary discussion about the BRICS from a neoinstitutionalist perspective. Here, we understand BRICS as an international institution which has deepened its technical-bureaucratic dynamics after the trust effect that was created from coordination and consistency experiences around aspects of the international economic agenda during the 2008/2009 economic-financial crisis. Therefore, our analytical proposal approaches the BRICS from its three institutional elements: its deliberation spaces; its information system; and its institutional incentive system. In summary, we consider that the proposed approach will allow us to understand in greater detail what institutional factors and features affect the probability of reaching consensus and cooperation among the BRICS member countries, as well as to identify in greater detail the institutional particularities that differentiate the BRICS from similar institutional experiences.
Topic:
Economy, Institutions, BRICS, Coordination, and Neoinstitutionalism
Political Geography:
Brazil, Latin America, and Global Focus

1654. Hard Times: The United States and Mexico in NAFTA’s “Renegotiation” Process

Author:
Roberto Goulart Menezes, Karina Lilia Pasquariello Mariano, and Flávio Contrera
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
After a tense process of renegotiating the terms of the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), the governments of the United States, Mexico and Canada established a new regional agreement, the USMCA (United States, Mexico and Canada Agreement), whose purpose is to overcome problems that emerged since the NAFTA came into force in 1994. The ratification of this document by the national congresses of the referred countries has generated new tensions and instabilities in their political scenario, especially due to the existing structural asymmetries between them. This work aims to analyse the impact of that imbalance in the NAFTA renegotiation process, considering the behaviour of the United States in relation to its partners, especially Mexico.
Topic:
Treaties and Agreements, NAFTA, Free Trade, and Regional Economy
Political Geography:
Canada, North America, Mexico, and United States of America

1655. Questioning Paraguay’s Suspension from MERCOSUR: The First Application of the Democratic Clause of the Regional Bloc

Author:
Túlio Sérgio Henriques Ferreira and Ana Cláudia Alves Cunha Paiva
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
This article analyses the first enforcement of the MERCOSUR Democratic Clause, which occurred during the XLIII Summit of Heads of State in 2012. It was decided to suspend Paraguay because the member states concluded that the impeachment process of Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo did not follow democratic principles. Since the event raised questions and controversies, the article contributes to an explanation of the decision-making process that culminated in the political suspension of Paraguay from the regional bloc. It is argued that the state parties of Mercosur, justified by Paraguay’s historic political and economic fragility and the context of President Fernando Lugo’s impeachment, have strategically used the clause in order to achieve interests beyond the defence of democracy, among them Venezuela’s adhesion to the Bloc.
Topic:
Democracy, Regional Integration, Mercosur, Regional Politics, and Ushuaia Protocol
Political Geography:
South America, Venezuela, and Paraguay

1656. Brazilian Foreign Policy from Lisbon to Bandung

Author:
Marcelo Alves de Paula Lima
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
Drawing from constructivist scholarship, this article dwells on the relations between Brazil and the Afro-Asian world based on the writings of diplomat Adolpho Justo Bezerra de Menezes, who advocated a larger commitment of the Brazilian foreign policy to the Global South. The author acted both as a norm entrepreneur who problematized Brazilian belonging to the West and a practical-intuitive historian who used the past to show that the ties uniting Brazil to Asia and Africa were tighter than those uniting it to Europe.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, History, Global South, Constructivism, and Adolpho Justo Bezerra de Menezes
Political Geography:
Africa, Asia, Brazil, South America, and Portugal

1657. Realist Dystopia - Hans Morgenthau and the Changing Role of the United Nations in World Politics

Author:
Gelson Fonseca Júnior and Eduardo Uziel
Publication Date:
09-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Contexto Internacional
Institution:
Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Abstract:
This research delves into the way in which Hans Morgenthau had studied and discussed the United Nations as an organisation, mainly during its first twenty years. Drawing on the influence of Carl Schmitt and Hans Kelsen and on his own personal disappointment with the League of Nations, Morgenthau strongly criticized the UN. The author considers that the organisation propounds lofty principles but harbours old-style diplomacy. After establishing a succinct comparison with Raymond Aron, the article highlights the reasons for Morgenthau’s criticism, including some abiding features of realism, such as the focus on great powers, a limited attribution of agency to other actors and an emphasis on security to the detriment of cooperative activities. It underlines how Morgenthau rejected the UN as a basis to build a world state. It concludes by arguing that Morgenthau’s realism highlights the frailties of the UN but does not explain why states still insist in the multilateral institutions.United Nations, international organisation, Security Council, Hans Morgenthau, General Assembly
Topic:
Diplomacy, International Organization, United Nations, UN Security Council, Hans Morgenthau, and UN General Assembly
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1658. Welcome to the New Abnormal

Author:
Michael Miklaucic
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic is the most globally disruptive event since the terrorist attack against the United States in 2001. Originating in China in late 2019 the disease rapidly spread throughout the international transportation network to every region and every country. Neither its velocity nor its magnitude were initially understood. In 2020 the entire world seemed to come to a standstill. International and even domestic travel came to an abrupt halt. Normally teeming cities were silenced. Streets, markets, and even schools were empty. The gravity of the pandemic was perceived differently in different countries, and at different times, and the subsequent disruption uneven. Each country responded in a unique way, though general response patterns are discernable. Importantly the pandemic revealed significant vulnerabilities caused by the juxtaposition of private sector globalization in the context of national governance. That is what this special issue of PRISM is about; the different perceptions and reactions to COVID-19 as people and governments experienced the disease, and their diverse understanding of its implications for national and international security.
Topic:
National Security, Global Security, Crisis Management, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Global Focus

1659. Reality Injection: Beyond Masks and Quarantine The True Cost of COVID-19

Author:
Eric D. Achtmann, Raquel Bono, Anita Goel, Margaret A. Hanson-Muse, and Steven M. Jones
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
COVID-19 has had a profound economic and social impact on America, taking over a half million lives—more than all American deaths in World War I, World War II, and Vietnam, combined.1 This article seeks to examine primary and secondary consequences of the pandemic in practical terms for the average citizen and taxpayer, whose personal exposure exceeds 2.5 years of net income based on predictions of a $16 to $35 trillion cost to the nation by 2025. Further, we offer insight into the pandemic’s collateral effects on our citizens and workforce (including often overlooked key stakeholders such as women, children, and minorities), as well as more overt aspects of our national security. History will measure the pandemic’s tragic and overwhelming impact on the world—and our country—in terms of infections, hospitalizations, vaccinations, and deaths. Yet, as COVID-19 extends our quasi-lockdown into its 18th month, we are scarcely beginning to comprehend its profound economic impact. A December 2020 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates Americans’ costs at nearly $16 trillioni or double its May 2020 projections.2 To a layperson, $16 trillion is the wealth of 16 million millionaires or $110k for each U.S. taxpayer. Analysts expect this number to reach $35 trillion by 20253—a sum that easily exceeds the initiatives Congress has fought over for yearsii. Another study conducted by the Journal of the American Medical Association reached a similar conclusion. “About half of the price tag, $8.6 trillion (about $26,000 per person in the United States), is driven by the long-term health implications and costs for those who contract COVID-19, as well as the statistical estimates for the loss of life.”4 Robert Frost’s words aptly depict society’s effort to overcome the pandemic’s effects, “…miles to go before [we] sleep.” The stock market crash of 1929, in hindsight a predictable occurrence, unleashed a 10-year Great Depression. Likewise, the COVID-19 contagion, an equally predictable event, portends a similar trend. Long term, it compels society to address its socio-economic impact, acknowledge its lack of preparedness, and formulate a realistic action plan for protection against this and future pandemics, as well as potential biowarfare attacks. A similar event is inevitable, whether through malfeasance, rapidly increasing population density, environmental stress, biowarfare attack, or simply bad luck. So is society’s realization of two things: our economy and civilization will struggle to survive another pandemic in the near term, and that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” While one can theoretically shut down the engines and glide a plane to safety in an emergency, there is no substitute for proper planning, operations, and maintenance. Society needs a more proactive and anticipatory approach to national and global security, biodefense, and pandemic prevention and mitigation.5 Leaders need a strategy that leverages the resources of both the public and private sectors, as well as academic and individual initiative. Failure to do this is not an option—it is too costly and could lead to the collapse of entire economies and societies.
Topic:
Economy, Public Health, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

1660. U.S. SOUTHCOM Fights Through COVID-19

Author:
Michael T. Plehn
Publication Date:
01-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
As I boarded my flight in Bogotá, Colombia, to return to the United States on March 14, 2020, after participating in the joint Colombia-U.S. Exercise Vita in the Guajira Peninsula, the reality of how the COVID-19 pandemic was going to affect our lives over the next year began to manifest. Arriving back in Miami, where I was the Military Deputy Commander for U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), I went straight home to begin a 14-day quarantine in accordance with new policies from the Department of Defense (DOD) for travelers returning from overseas. It was the first of many adaptations that we would make in the coming months. In May of 2019, shortly after assuming command at USSOUTHCOM, Admiral Craig Faller, USN, established three primary lines of effort to guide our activities: strengthen partnerships, counter threats, and build our team.1 Less than a year later, we were tested in all three areas by the pandemic. One of the great strengths of USSOUTHCOM is the network of engaged and willing partners in the region. We work closely with them as we guide all U.S. military activity across much of Latin America and the Caribbean. We are neighbors and friends who share common values, ties, and interests. Our neighborhood is not only rich in natural resources but also beset by many longstanding challenges and several emerging issues. While there is no current armed conflict between countries in the region, it is one of the most violent areas on the globe, much of it fueled by transnational criminal organizations and longstanding structural, societal issues. According to a 2019 global study on homicide by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the rate of intentional homicide in Central and South America is four times the global average.2 Particularly virulent, transnational criminal organizations—flush with cash—constantly seek to expand their lethal trade through extortion, corruption, intimidation, and violence. These actions, in turn, erode the power and legitimacy of local, state, and federal governments, reducing their ability to fight this scourge.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Armed Forces, COVID-19, and SOUTHCOM
Political Geography:
South America and United States of America