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Governance & Law North America Policy & Politics Regional Security & Conflict South America Topical

A Holistic Approach Towards International Counternarcotics Cooperation

Dr. Rahul Gupta is the Director of National Drug Control Policy. Todd D. Robinson is the Assistant Secretary for the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Introduction We recently traveled together to Colombia to discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s holistic approach to counternarcotics with the newly elected Colombian government, which […]

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Governance & Law Policy & Politics Regional South America Topical

Lula and Bolsonaro, A World Apart on the World Stage

Andre Pagliarini is an assistant professor of history at Hampden-Sydney College, a columnist at Brazilian Report, and a faculty fellow at the Washington Brazil Office. There is not much in common between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the center-left former president of Brazil and leading challenger in the upcoming presidential election, and the radically right-wing […]

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Book Reviews Economics Governance & Law Policy & Politics Regional Security & Conflict South America Topical

A Development Journey: Non-stop from the Northern Triangle of Central America to Denmark?

Review of: Neil Shenai, Escaping the Governance Trap:Economic Reform in the Northern Triangle, (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Pivot, 2022). David F. Varela Sr. is a second-year Doctor of International Affairs (DIA) student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Escaping the Governance Trap by Neil Shenai arrives at a perfect time to enrich a […]

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Civil Society Governance & Law Policy & Politics Regional Security & Conflict South America Topical

Can the Government Police Itself? Colombia’s False Positives Scandal and its Lessons for Atrocity Prevention

Introduction In April of 2022, a Colombian general and ten other servicemembers admitted that they had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.[1] It was the first time that senior Colombian military officials admitted to wrongdoing since the systemic killing of innocents began almost two decades prior in what became known as the “false positives” […]

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Europe Governance & Law Policy & Politics South America

Coming to Terms with Reality: How Could the European Union Most Effectively Support Venezuela’s Democratization?

Introduction The European Union (EU) and the United States are usually seen as key players in democracy promotion around the world. Indeed, the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy engrains the principle of protecting and promoting democracy and human rights.[1] However, in its external relations with Latin America, the EU has long lacked a strategic […]

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Civil Society South America

Chile 2010-2020: The Contentious Decade

If contention describes a state of sustained, massive protest combining peaceful, disruptive, and violent tactics, then the decade of the 2010s may be considered the most contentious in Chile’s history.[1] The decade’s contentious dynamics seem more spectacular and unpredictable considering Chilean citizens’ previous feeble collective action. Chile transitioned to democracy in 1990 following a long and […]

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Governance & Law South America

Operation Mercury and Illegal Mining in Latin America

Money laundering serves as an important tool for transnational organized crime groups and terrorist organizations, enabling them to transform profit from illegal activities into clean funds for use in the licit financial system. Malign actors hide their money laundering efforts from law enforcement in a myriad of ways, but the purchase of legal or illegal […]

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Governance & Law Regional Security & Conflict South America

The Governance Competition in the Americas: “Criminal Charity” During COVID-19 Will Have Decade-long Consequences

Latin America’s criminal groups have leveraged the coronavirus pandemic to win the goodwill and support of local populations by delivering humanitarian assistance and co-opting public service provision in communities underserved by state institutions. Such levels of “criminal charity” could complicate the future efforts of Latin America’s weakest states to dismantle and defeat organized crime groups, whose power has grown in recent years.

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International Development Policy & Politics South America

Three to Tango: Argentina, IMF, and Debt

An examination of Argentina’s current political economy reveals that many structural vulnerabilities persist to this day. Will the current IMF program work?

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Policy & Politics Security & Conflict South America

Crisis in Venezuela: the United States’ Duty​ to Respond

If you turn on the news today, you will most likely hear about the recent government shutdown, our military presence in the Middle East, or a number of other domestic and international issues. But what will most likely not be discussed, or at least at length, is the threat the Venezuelan crisis poses to the United States.