A New Dynamic in the Western Hemisphere Security Environment

A New Dynamic in the Western Hemisphere Security Environment
Author: Max G. Manwaring
Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2009
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1584874074

The author discusses how a new and dangerous dynamic, a private military organization called the Zetas, has been inserted into the already crowded Mexican and Western Hemisphere security arena. The Zetas were originally organized and staffed by former members (deserters) from the Mexican Army's veteran elite Airborne Special Forces Group (GAFES). The author contends that the Zetas are better trained, equipped, motivated, and experienced in irregular warfare than the Mexican police and army. This monograph intends to promote a relevant response to the problem of the "guerrillas next door" to the United States.

Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command

Partnership for the Americas: Western Hemisphere Strategy and U.S. Southern Command
Author: James G. Stavridis
Publisher: NDU Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2014-02-23
Genre: Education
ISBN:

Since its creation in 1963, United States Southern Command has been led by 30 senior officers representing all four of the armed forces. None has undertaken his leadership responsibilities with the cultural sensitivity and creativity demonstrated by Admiral Jim Stavridis during his tenure in command. Breaking with tradition, Admiral Stavridis discarded the customary military model as he organized the Southern Command Headquarters. In its place he created an organization designed not to subdue adversaries, but instead to build durable and enduring partnerships with friends. His observation that it is the business of Southern Command to launch "ideas not missiles" into the command's area of responsibility gained strategic resonance throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America, and at the highest levels in Washington, DC.

Street Gangs

Street Gangs
Author: Max G. Manwaring
Publisher:
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2005
Genre: Electronic government information
ISBN:

The primary thrust of the monograph is to explain the linkage of contemporary criminal street gangs (that is, the gang phenomenon or third generation gangs) to insurgency in terms f the instability it wreaks upon government and the concomitant challenge to state sovereignty. Although there are differences between gangs and insurgents regarding motives and modes of operations, this linkage infers that gang phenomena are mutated forms of urban insurgency. In these terms, these "new" nonstate actors must eventually seize political power in order to guarantee the freedom of action and the commercial environment they want. The common denominator that clearly links the gang phenomenon to insurgency is that the third generation gangs' and insurgents' ultimate objective is to depose or control the governments of targeted countries. As a consequence, the "Duck Analogy" applies. Third generation gangs look like ducks, walk like ducks, and act like ducks - a peculiar breed, but ducks nevertheless! This monograph concludes with recommendations for the United States and other countries to focus security and assistance responses at the strategic level. The intent is to help leaders achieve strategic clarity and operate more effectively in the complex politically dominated, contemporary global security arena.

National Solutions to Trans-Border Problems?

National Solutions to Trans-Border Problems?
Author: Isidro Morales
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2016-04-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317089952

'Triggered by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canada, the United States and Mexico redefined their public policies to facilitate the regionalization of transactions. However, this volume addresses the institutional gaps that still remain focusing mainly on the cross-border governance of security aspects. It gathers interdisciplinary contributions of specialists working on continental issues within Canada, the United States and Mexico and highlights the transnational dimension of certain issues still managed under national-framed policies. Furthermore, it explores the possibilities and constraints for moving public policy into new cross-border governance strategies. Divided in three parts, the first part assesses what is at stake in cross-border governance issues and whether the integrative trend in the region will be maintained or stalled in the years to come. The second part explores the growing scope of security problems interconnected with borders, migration, energy and drug trafficking across the region. It highlights how Mexico and Canada are responding or adapting their policy choices to a continental security approach framed by the US after the terrorist attacks of September 11, and to the major concerns of the Obama administration. The third part focuses on the governance of territorial borders and bilateral affairs, i.e. Mexico-US and Canada-Mexico relations.

The Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics

The Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics
Author: Roderic Ai Camp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2012-01-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199703620

Since achieving independence from Spain and establishing its first constitution in 1824, Mexico has experienced numerous political upheavals. The country's long and turbulent journey toward democratic, representative government has been marked by a tension between centralized, autocratic governments (historically depicted as a legacy of colonial institutions) and federalist structures. The years since Mexico's independence have seen a major violent social revolution, years of authoritarian rule, and, finally, in the past two decades, the introduction of a fair and democratic electoral process. Over the course of the thirty-one essays in The Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics some of the world's leading scholars of Mexico will provide a comprehensive view of the remarkable transformation of the nation's political system to a democratic model. In turn they will assess the most influential institutions, actors, policies and issues in its current evolution toward democratic consolidation. Following an introduction by Roderic Ai Camp, sections will explore the current state of Mexico's political development; transformative political institutions; the changing roles of the military, big business, organized labor, and the national political elite; new political actors including the news media, indigenous movements, women, and drug traffickers; electoral politics; demographics and political attitudes; and policy issues.

Over 40 Publications Combined: Implications Of Narco-Terrorism And Human Trafficking In Mexico and Central America On United States National Security

Over 40 Publications Combined: Implications Of Narco-Terrorism And Human Trafficking In Mexico and Central America On United States National Security
Author:
Publisher: Jeffrey Frank Jones
Total Pages: 3178
Release: 2018-12-11
Genre:
ISBN:

Over 3,100 total pages ... CONTENTS: The Nexus of Extremism and Trafficking: Scourge of the World or So Much Hype? Crossing Our Red Lines About Partner Engagement in Mexico Two Faces of Attrition: Analysis of a Mismatched Strategy against Mexican and Central American Drug Traffickers Combating Drug Trafficking: Variation in the United States' Military Cooperation with Colombia and Mexico Ungoverned Spaces in Mexico: Autodefensas, Failed States, and the War on Drugs in Michoacan U.S. SOUTHWEST BORDER SECURITY: AN OPERATIONAL APPROACH TWO WARS: OVERSEAS CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS AND THE WAR ON DRUGS WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE WAR ON DRUGS? AN ASSESSMENT OF MEXICO’S COUNTERNARCOTICS STRATEGY THE DIVERSIFICATION OF MEXICAN TRANSNATIONAL CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ITS EFFECTS ON SPILLOVER VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations: Matching Strategy to Threat THE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CITIZEN SECURITY BEHAVIOR IN MEXICO Combating Transnational Organized Crime: Strategies and Metrics for the Threat Beyond Merida: A Cooperative Counternarcotics Strategy for the 21st Century MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS AND TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS, A NEW ALLIANCE? THE EFFECTIVE BUSINESS PRACTICES OF MEXICAN DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATIONS (DTOs) DRUG TRAFFICKING AND POLICE CORRUPTION: A COMPARISON OF COLOMBIA AND MEXICO CRISIS IN MEXICO: ASSESSING THE MÉRIDA INITIATIVE AND ITS IMPACT ON US-MEXICAN SECURITY BORDER SECURITY: IS IT ACHIEVABLE ON THE RIO GRANDE? Borders and Borderlands in the Americas PREVENTING BULK CASH AND WEAPONS SMUGGLING INTO MEXICO: ESTABLISHING AN OUTBOUND POLICY ON THE SOUTHWEST BORDER FOR CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTON DRUG TRAFFICKING WITHIN MEXICO: A LAW ENFORCEMENT ISSUE OR INSURGENCY? USSOCOM’s Role in Addressing Human Trafficking Southwest Border Violence: Issues in Identifying and Measuring Spillover Violence National Security Threats at the U.S.-Mexico Border Merida Initiative: Proposed U.S. Anticrime and Counterdrug Assistance for Mexico and Central America COCAINE TRAFFICKING THROUGH WEST AFRICA: THE HYBRIDIZED ILLICIT NETWORK AS AN EMERGING TRANSNATIONAL THREAT ORGANIZED CRIME AND TERRORIST ACTIVITY IN MEXICO, 1999-2002 Is the Narco-violence in Mexico an Insurgency? THE USE OF TERRORISM BY DRUG TRAFFICKING ORGANIZATIONS’ PARAMILITARY GROUPS IN MEXICO An Approach to the 40-Year Drug War EXPLOITING WEAKNESSES: AN APPROACH TO COUNTER CARTEL STRATEGY MEXICO AND THE COCAINE EPIDEMIC: THE NEW COLOMBIA OR A NEW PROBLEM? EXPLAINING VARIATION IN THE APPREHENSION OF MEXICAN DRUG TRAFFICKING CARTEL LEADERS Drug Cartels and Gangs in Mexico and Central America: A View through the Lens of Counterinsurgency The COIN Approach to Mexican Drug Cartels: Square Peg in a Round Hole Counterinsurgency and the Mexican Drug War THE UNTOLD STORY OF MEXICO’S RISE AND EVENTUAL MONOPOLY OF THE METHAMPHETAMINE TRADE Competing with the Cartels: How Mexico's Government Can Reduce Organized Crime's Economic Grip on its People FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN MEXICO: LESSONS FROM COLOMBIA Defeating Mexico's Drug Trafficking Organizations: The Range of Military Operations in Mexico Drug Trafficking as a Lethal Regional Threat in Central America What Explains the Patterns of Diversification in Drug Trafficking Organizations Evaluating the Impact of Drug Trafficking Organizations on the Stability of the Mexican State

Cartels at War

Cartels at War
Author: Paul Rexton Kan
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2012-10-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1597977071

Now in its sixth year, the conflict in Mexico is a mosaic of several wars occurring at once: cartels battle one another, cartels suffer violence within their own organizations, cartels fight against the Mexican state, cartels and gangs wage war against the Mexican people, and gangs combat gangs. The war has killed more than 60,000 people since President Felipe Calder?n began cracking down on the cartels in December 2006. The targets of the violence have been wide-rangingùfrom police officers to journalists, from clinics to discos. Governments on either side of the U.S.-Mexican border have been unable to control the violence. The war has spilled over into American cities and affects domestic policy issues ranging from immigration to gun control, making the border the nexus of national security and public safety concerns. Drawing on fieldwork along the border and interviews with officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Department of Defense, U.S. Border Patrol, and Mexican military officers, Paul Rexton Kan argues that policy responses must be carefully calibrated to prevent stoking more cartel violence, to cut the incentives to smuggle drugs into the United States, and to stop the erosion of Mexican governmental capacity.

Journeys to the United Mexican States

Journeys to the United Mexican States
Author: Kalman Dubov
Publisher: Kalman Dubov
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2022-06-22
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN:

Mexico's history reaches back 4,000 years, beginning with the Olmecs who lived in the Yucatan Peninsula. That remarkable civilization created those huge stone heads with developments that spearheaded and vitalized every subsequent Mesoamerican civilization that followed. The Olmecs, and the Maya, who succeeded them, created the concept of zero, an incredible development in mathematical computation. This book begins with the Olmecs, tracing successor civilizations to the last Mesoamerican Empire, the Aztecs. I describe Aztec life, ritual, cuisine, and development until, in August 1521, this civilization was conquered by Spanish conquistadors. Much of the Aztecs, their people, and royalty are known today by way of Spanish ethnographers and historians who authored codices writing and describing what they saw even as that civilization was changed. That change was permanent. Aztec ritual and its polytheism were altered by Spanish missionaries and enforced by the Inquisition. From 1521 until 1821, Spanish Colonial authorities imposed forced labor in varying forms. Colonialism was overthrown in 1821, and Mexico now entered a new era. This book describes those changes as well as the challenges the government today faces in addressing many disparities in its policies. Healthcare challenges, with systemic poverty as well as the drug war preoccupies much energy in the government's efforts to address them. Mexico also has a large Jewish population whose history was marked by secrecy and Spanish efforts to eradicate this ancient religion. Today's Zocalo, in the heart of Centro Historico, was the place where Jews were burned to death in public admonition against Jewish practice. Another site for such death was the nearby ex-Convento of San Diego, opposite the Grand Palace de Belles Artes. Today's Jews are thriving, and Mexico-Israel relations are strong. This book would not be complete without describing my visits to the country. In My Visit, I describe the different ports I visited while aboard cruise ships. But many more months in the country were spent in San Miguel de Allende and in Mexico City. I describe these visits, their people, and the many nuances of Mexican life. The Mexican constitution recognizes 69 ethnic languages and speakers who are scattered but who primarily live in its southern states. Many ethnic languages are so diverse, that their dialects are unintelligible to the same language group. Language creates the core bonds of society and such multiplicity provides insight into the huge diversity of identity and of life in Mexico. This book is the 14th in the Journey series and is my first book on the American continent. I hope I have done justice to the vast complexity of this society.

Juvenile Justice Practical Application Workbook

Juvenile Justice Practical Application Workbook
Author: Barry S. McCrary Sr.
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2018-03-13
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1387661310

The purpose of this juvenile justice workbook is to explore the current challenges in meeting the social developmental needs for youth in the juvenile justice system. This workbook will explore strategies for addressing these challenges at a policy and practice level. The attempt to improve social developmental needs requires the promotion of a practical application outlook for juvenile justice students and workers to provide a service to manage behaviors, along with learning about the offender in order to manage and address specific needs. The purposes of this workbook will be (1) to examine the current juvenile justice practices by which juvenile justice workers provide services and (2) to study core case procedures that juvenile justice workers are using to meet youth offender's needs, and (3) to analyze those practices that exist for juvenile justice worker to meet social developmental needs.