U.S. Security Policy in the Western Hemisphere: Why Colombia, Why Now, and What Is To Be Done?
Authored by Dr. Max G. Manwaring.
June 01, 2001
47 Pages
Brief Synopsis
This is one in the Special Series of monographs stemming from the February 2001 conference on Plan Colombia cosponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College and The Dante B. Fascell North-South Center of the University of Miami. In substantive U.S. national security terms, the author addresses the questions, Why Colombia, Why Now, and What Is To Be Done? He explains the importance of that troubled country to the United States. He points out that the fragile democracy of Colombia is at risk, and that the violent spillover effects of three simultaneous wars pose a threat to the rest of the Western Hemisphere and the interdependent global community. Then he makes a case against continued tactical and operational approaches to the Colombian crisis and outlines what must be done. In that connection, he recommends an actionable political-military strategy to attain security, stability, democratic governance, and a sustainable peace. The proposed strategy would not be costly in monetary or military terms. It would, however, require deliberate planning, cooperation, time, and will.
Preface
This monograph by Dr. Max G. Manwaring is another in a series to emerge from a joint project on Plan Colombia begun last February by the U.S. Army War College and The Dante B. Fascell North-South Center. In it, the author places the dilemma of Colombia's three-front "war" within the framework of the national security strategy of the United States. Dr. Manwaring answers the questions of "why" and "how" in clear contextual terms.
The fact that "the fragile democracy of Colombia is at risk" poses a threat to the entire Western Hemisphere. It is not, the author points out, a single-country problem in a country that has experienced instability and insurgency for over 50 years. The situation has deteriorated to the point where Colombia could become a failed state, with massive spillover effects of insurgency, criminality, and narco-trafficking in all of its neighboring countries.
In the post-Cold War scenario, security in Latin America means for the United States more than keeping Communism out of the Hemisphere, which it once did. It now means underpinning democracy and free-market economics, plus close cooperation on the immense "shared problems" of drugs, crime, immigration, and environmental concerns in the hemisphere. Colombia, in this sense, is a challenge that is highly complex. It is, as the author points out, "multidimensional, multilateral and multiorganizational." In these terms, Plan Colombia and that country's positive turnaround and contribution to hemispheric stability, prosperity, and peace will depend on civil-military solutions implemented at the strategic level. Ultimately, that will depend on U.S. leadership.
Dr. Manwaring presents an eloquent case for this country to exercise that strategic leadership. To do so, he underscores, Washington must advance beyond its traditional swings from "benign neglect" of the Hemisphere to various forms of operational-level political, economic, and military intervention (often misguided). I would add that Washington must also outgrow its short attention span. That will require a great deal of analysis and education, contributing to which is the underlying purpose of this project. Our institutions are pleased to make this contribution.
Access Full Report [PDF]: U.S. Security Policy in the Western Hemisphere: Why Colombia, Why Now, and What Is To Be Done?
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
