Recent Publications

Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability in Mexico, Colombia, and the Caribbean: Implications for U.S. National Security
January 1, 2010 — Authors: Mr Evan Brown, Dr Dallas D Owens Key Insights from the conference included:(1) The relationships between powerful criminal groups and states are complex and create transnational issues of corruption and the production, transportation, marketing, and consumption of illegal products and services that have national security implications for... MORE

Something Brewing in Venezuela
January 1, 2010 — Author: COL Phillip R Cuccia Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the January 2010 newsletter.Read Now MORE

War without Borders: The Colombia-Ecuador Crisis of 2008
December 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Gabriel Marcella Unprotected borders are a serious threat to the security of a number of states around the globe. Indeed, the combination of weak states, ungoverned space, terrorism, and international criminal networks make a mockery of the Westphalian system of international order. Latin American countries are experiencing all of these... MORE

Chavez – The Beginning of the End
June 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Alex Crowther Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the June 2008 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Cover for Chavez- The Beginning of the End

Castro’s Cuba: Quo Vadis?
December 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Francisco Wong-Diaz The United States, particularly the Army, has a long history of involvement with Cuba. It has included, among others, the Spanish-American War of 1898, military interventions in 1906 and 1912, the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, the 1962 Missile Crisis, counterinsurgency, and low intensity warfare in Latin America and... MORE

Hemispheric Strategic Objectives for the Next Decade
May 11, 2004 — Author: Dr Max G Manwaring The Latin American and Caribbean Center of Florida International University, the U.S. Southern Command, and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College held the seventh in a series of major annual conferences dealing with security matters in the Western Hemisphere, in Miami, Florida, on March 17-19, 2004... MORE

Nonstate Actors in Colombia: Threat and Response
May 1, 2002 — Author: Dr Max G Manwaring Colombia's deeply rooted and ambiguous warfare has reached crisis proportions in that Colombia's "Hobbesian Trinity" of illegal drug traffickers, insurgents, and paramilitary organizations are creating a situation in which life is indeed "nasty, brutish, and short." The first step in developing a macro-level vision,... MORE

The United States and Colombia: Untying the Gordian Knot
March 1, 2000 — Author: AMB David PassageTwenty-five years after the end of the Vietnam War, the ghost of that war still haunts the corridors of the decision makers when it comes to making long-term commitments to situations that remotely resemble anything like our Indochina experience. That is the case in with Colombia, which is embroiled in an internecine... MORE

The United States and Latin America: Shaping an Elusive Future
March 1, 2000 — Author: Dr Donald E Schulz The demise of the Cold War has produced not an "End of History" but a "New World Disorder," which may well become more tumultuous in the decades ahead. Thus, it is crucial at this turn of the millennium to reconsider the prospects for regional security, the challenges that both new and old dangers may pose to U.S... MORE