Number 47, September 1995

New Security Relations inthe Americas

by Richard Downes

**Conclusions**

	Radically new international and domestic conditions require Western Hemisphere security establishments to considerserious adjustments in planning, doctrine, and resource allocation.
	The interplay between the neo-liberal political-economic model and traditional security needs confronts Latin Americandefense planners with uncomfortable, major challenges:

	Today's political and economic climate has created uncertainty within and among the region's tradition-bound militaryestablishments

	In an increasingly interdependent world, a state's own territory is no longer the sole reference point for its own securityarrangements

	Hemispheric security partners, like dancing partners confronting unexpected music with a different rhythm, mustconfirm shared perceptions and review their complementary roles and agreements before trying out new dance steps.
**New Security Considerations**
The business of national defense once was simple, with a unilateral focus and emphasis on military strength. Today a complexmix of contemporary and traditional forces act in concert on emerging multinational security relationships in Latin America. Arecent conference highlighted three forces at work:
1.	New, freewheeling influences which cross the Americas' boundaries via the Internet, electronic fund transfers, massmedia, illegal transit, and non-governmental organizations.
2.	The December 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas' ringing endorsement of democracy, free markets and tradeintegration, which together have fundamentally altered the frame of reference for defining national interests and promotingcooperation in the Hemisphere.
3.	States struggling under essential neo-liberal reforms while abject poverty, skewed income  distribution, rapid populationgrowth, massive illegal migration, and growing criminality continue to depress daily life for large sectors of society andincrease pressures for government activism.
**Keeping Regional Change in Perspective**

		The 1994 Miami Summit of the Americas' priorities for action did not address security relationships, but thefollowing "Partners in Hemispheric Peace and Security" symposium took this step, challenging participants to think creativelyabout today's altered strategic environment and its significance for defense establishments and security policies.  Early in themeeting several senior academic analysts emphasized the importance of keeping regional change in historical perspective.Institutional heritage and traditions are powerful pressures contributing to the uncertainty about the future within and amongthe hemisphere's armed forces. Strong European influences have endowed many Latin American militaries with a corporatistworld view and a sense of "nationalistic Darwinism" in their approach to territorial issues. The U.S.  experience too, in theCaribbean early in this century, often led to the creation of constabularies with internal missions rather than to  establishmentof defense forces under elected civilian control. Neither of these historical traditions adapts easily to today's emphasis ondemocratic societies, so change is difficult to accept.
		The military's traditional role has become ambiguous for the first time.  A Central American public security expertexplained, for example, that Latin America's military elites have been moved aside by civilian leaders who challenge theinstitution's long-standing monopoly on patriotism. In some countries, a senior North American analyst noted, the armedforces now feel unwanted and unjustly attacked for national problems not exclusively of their own making. Most perceive theyare being "talked at" about modernization, professionalism and democratization, another agenda they believe is driven byWashington's policy priorities.
		The U.S. military's traditional role in hemispheric relations, heavily influenced by the Cold War and Washington'sbureaucratic politics in shaping its Latin American agenda, is also changing.  A U.S. civilian defense expert pointed out thatdecades of anti-communist engagement have left the U.S. military with a more global perspective and little contact with theregion's younger generation of officers. The United States has lost many opportunities in this regard. Port visits, for example,have emphasized recreational events over professional exchanges, the preparation of U.S. officers to serve in the region haslacked intensive training programs and "after-action" reports are seldom well prepared or read. Today, meaningful interactionsare returning between U.S. and Latin American counterparts through a variety of innovative programs, exercises and smallunit deployments, but the prejudiced and paternalistic attitudes of the past have not been silenced.
		In an operational sense, the U.S. military is trying to break with the past and widen the focus of defense policy beyondits current regional engagement in support of the National Drug Control Strategy. Senior U.S. Southern Command officersexplained in detail how the Command expends $153 million annually and deploys hundreds of troops to supportWashington's counter-narcotics efforts. Extensive interaction has taken place with national security forces on anti-traffickingoperations. The Southern Command now seeks to broaden this cooperation from bilateral to multilateral (regional) operationsin order to capitalize on local successes and encourage interoperability. In addition, the Command has worked with 12American countries that have sent military contingents to UN peace operations worldwide. (Nine Latin American militaries,for example, currently participate in the multinational force in Haiti.) Recognizing the central role of human rights in securityoperations, the Com-mand engages advocacy groups in a dialogue on human rights training, now a key component of itsexercise program.

**Addressing Contemporary Security Challenges**
		The "new spirit" of political and economic reform carried over from the December Presidential Summit complicatesefforts to redefine national and regional security.  Democracy has triumphed thus far as the region's chosen politicalphilosophy, but its failure to resolve grating social inequities has led to persistent questions about whether democracy iscredible, whether the nature of national security has changed, and how the role of armed forces in its protection can beexplained.  While economic reforms have successfully pushed Latin America toward free market and export-oriented growth,the effects on security forces, as analysis by defense economists suggests, have been largely unexplored.
		The neo-liberal model poses major challenges for defense planners.  Structural economic adjustments are ending statesupport for domestic defense industries, resulting in a new sense of insecurity associated with their disappearance orinternationalization.  Cuts in government spending are forcing defense establishments to reexamine the size of armed forcesand their rationale for national defense, and to provide more convincing justifications for their budgets.  Such trends have ledto concerns that expanding reforms may be weakening the state, which then is less able to address destabilizing socio-economic conditions and domestic political tensions, and may lead ultimately to the military's reinsertion into public order, arole it does not seek.
		The uncertain relationship between the arm-ed forces and the newly democratized state challenges both groups to findconsensus on security issues. A South American defense analyst underscored that, while democratization has not eliminatedthe state's security functions, agreement on its security responsibilities has been difficult to achieve. The military's Praetorianeducation, its lack of experience in working with legislative bodies, and a pronounced shortage of civilians with expertise inmilitary and security matters produce little common ground for debate. A vagueness about what constitutes valid nationalsecurity interests, as opposed to those of the military institution, and about how, if at all, the armed forces should be engagedin protecting or promoting them continues to hamper efforts to advance cooperative security initiatives.  Narrow definitions ofnational security mask enduring weaknesses within Latin American societies, while expansive doctrines risk diluting theconcept of security down to meaninglessness, or militarizing solutions to the problems of developing states.
		The security dimension of the region's aggressive agenda for trade integration presents other difficult questions andchallenges: for example, will the United States be reliable? An international trade expert noted that American leaders havepledged to create a hemispheric free trade area  by 2005 with a combined market of 850 million people and a gross domesticproduct of $13 trillion.  While entrepreneurs throughout the hemisphere are eager to achieve free trade and subregionalarrangements, such as the recent Central American alliance for sustainable development, he underscored that U.S. domesticpolitics may undermine Washington's support for a vision it helped to foster. The fallout from the Mexican financial crisis andbilateral and internal divisions hemisphere-wide may create further barriers to effective security cooperation.
	Subregional economic integration in the face of traditional rivalries highlights Latin America's ability to harmonizeeconomic and security cooperation.  Southern Cone countries have overcome major obstacles to integration: the Falklands/Malvinas conflict, Chilean-Argentine border disputes, and issues related to hydro-electric power generation. Brazilian-Argentine economic cooperation under the Southern Common Market umbrella appears to be developing positively along a"dual-track" consisting of separate security and economic paths. The Andean Pact continues to function despite a bitterconfrontation between Peru and Ecuador.
		Security- and confidence-building measures clearly strengthen efforts to realize economic integration and reduce thechances of severe intraregional tensions. Steps underway to increase confidence between Chilean and Argentine armed forces,for example, provide a useful model for the entire hemisphere.  But many Latin American military institutions still view thedefense of sovereignty as their primary mission.  The recent conflict along the Peru-Ecuador border revealed the understatedvalue reserved for territory within national policy circles.  While the root causes of this dispute remain unresolved, today'scooperative atmosphere has helped avert escalation and stimulated diplomatic negotiations to find a final solution.  SeniorEcuadorian and Peruvian officers attending the symposium warmly embraced after expressing commitments to peace.

**Building upon Security Opportunities**

		Agreement on a common security agenda will require high levels of initiative, pragmatism, and diplomacy. TheSummit of the Americas established a cooperative mind set among the region's leaders--an essential step for discussing diffi-cult security issues.  But the Summit did not suggest how to achieve consensus among the region's military and civiliandefense leaders. "Each country has a different list [of security goals], and we have to see what are the linkages and commonareas," one senior Latin American officer noted.

**Recommendations**

	Develop a workable program for regional, or subregional cooperation which needs regular communication and manysolid reference points such as regular meetings of defense ministers and periodic conferences to discuss cooperation andsecurity-building measures.

	Draw upon experiences with multilateral security from outside the Western Hemi-sphere, particularly in a European orNATO context, to identify ideas which can be adapted to inter-American relationships.

	Identify focal points of security interest and commitment on a regional or subregional level and adopt an incrementaland transparent course to achieve consensus among the region's military and civilian defense leaders on how securityshould be defined.

Dr. Richard Downes is the Director of Communications for the University of Miami's North-South Center.  He is a retired AirForce lieutenant colonel and was a planner on the joint staff. 

**About the Conference**
More than 150 military and civilian defense experts from 18 American countries met  recently in Miami to explore WesternHemisphere security relationships in the post-Cold War era. Hosted by the U.S. Southern Command and the NationalDefense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies, under the theme of "Partners in Hemispheric Peace andSecurity," the symposium helped shape the agenda for the first Defense Ministerial of the Americas meeting held inWilliamsburg, VA in late July.
NOTE
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