Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability - Couverture souple

Williams PH D, Phil; Felbab-Brown, Fellow Vanda

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1288228317 ISBN 13 : 9781288228317

Editeur : BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2012

Synopsis

Although challenges posed by various kinds of violent armed groups initially appear highly diverse and unrelated to one another, in fact they all reflect the increasing connections between security and governance and, in particular, the relationship between poor governance and violent armed groups. In many cases, these groups are overtly challenging the state; in others they are cooperating and colluding with state structures while subtly undermining them; in yet others, the state is a passive bystander while violent armed groups are fighting one another. The mix is different, the combinations vary, and the perpetrators of violence have different motives, methods, and targets. In spite of their divergent forms, violent nonstate actors (VNSAs) share certain qualities and characteristics. These violent armed groups represent a common challenge to national and international security, a challenge that is far greater than the sum of the individual groups, and that is likely to grow rather than diminish over the next several decades. This monograph focuses on the complex relationship between human security, crime, illicit economies, and law enforcement. It also seeks to disentangle the linkages between insurgency on the one hand and drug trafficking and organized crime on the other, suggesting that criminal activities help sustain an insurgency, but also carry certain risks for the insurgency.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Over the past two years, the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) and the University of Pittsburgh Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies (Center for Latin American Studies and Office of the Provost) have conducted two conferences: The first was entitled “Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability in Mexico, Colombia, and the Caribbean: Implications for U.S. National Security,” and the second was “Violent Armed Groups: A Global Challenge.” Keynote speakers for the first conference were: Bruce Bagley, Professor and Chair, Department of International Studies, University of Miami and Director, University of Miami’s Center of Latin American Studies, who addressed “What Can the Mexican State Do to Combat Organized Crime?”; and Jorge Chabat, Professor/Investigator, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (Center for Research and Teaching in Economics), who discussed “The Drug War in Mexico: Dilemmas and Options.” Speakers for the second conference included Dr. Robert Mandel, Professor of International Affairs at Lewis & Clark College, and John Robb, author of the book Brave New War. Dr. Mandel addressed “Global Security Upheaval: Armed Non-State Groups as Stability Enhancers,” and Mr. Robb addressed “The Bazaar of Violence.” The conference sponsors found the presentations at the two conferences to be sufficiently complementary to combine them in a series of monographs under the main title of Violent Armed Groups. Specific monographs within the series will have subtitles encompassing groups of works selected from among the presentations by the four keynote speakers and over 40 panelists. The introduction to this first monograph, “Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability,” will serve to: (1) introduce the series by providing general conceptions of the global security challenges posed by violent armed groups; (2) identify the issues of greatest import to scholars studying the phenomenon; and, (3) emphasize the need for the U.S. Government to understand variations in the challenges it faces from a wide range of potential enemies. In this first report, Dr. Phil Williams and Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown provide the strategic context for the series and highlight many of the issues that will be addressed in more detail by authors of subsequent monographs in the series. SSI is pleased to offer this report in fulfillment of its mission to assist U.S. Army and Department of Defense senior leaders and strategic thinkers in understanding the key issues of the day.

Biographie de l'auteur

PHIL WILLIAMS is the Wesley W. Posvar Professor and Director of the Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. His previous assignments included Visiting Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College; and Visiting Scientist at CERT Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked on cyber-crime and infrastructure protection. Dr. Williams has worked extensively on transnational criminal networks, terrorist networks, terrorist finances, and has focused most recently on the rise of drug trafficking violence in Mexico. He has published extensively in the field of international security. He has written many books on the field of international security including: Crisis Management (1976); The Senate and U.S. Troops in Europe (1986); and, (with Mike Bowker) Superpower Detente: A Reappraisal (1987); along with a number of edited volumes on Russian organized crime, trafficking in women, and combating transnational crime. Dr. Williams is also the author of From the New Middle Ages to a New Dark Age: The Decline of the State and U.S. Strategy (Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2008) and Criminals, Militias and Insurgents: Organized Crime in Iraq (Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2009). He also co-authored (with James Cockayne) The Invisible Tide: Towards an International Strategy to Deal with Drug Trafficking Through West Africa (International Peace Institute, 2009). VANDA FELBAB-BROWN is a Fellow in the Latin America Initiative and in the 21st Century Defense Initiative in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution. She is an expert on international and internal conflict issues and their management, particularly on the interaction between illicit economies and military conflict. She focuses on South Asia, Burma, the Andean region, Mexico, and Somalia. Dr. Felbab-Brown is the author of Shooting Up: Counterinsurgency and the War on Drugs (Brookings Institution Press, December 2009), as well as numerous policy reports, academic articles, and opinion editorials. A frequent commentator in U.S. and international media, Dr. Felbab-Brown also regularly testifies on these issues before the U.S. Congress.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: BiblioBazaar, LLC
• Date d'édition: 2012
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1288228317
• ISBN 13: 9781288228317
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 92
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible