Addicted to Failure: U.S. Security Policy in Latin America and the Andean Region(Latin American Silhouettes)

For supplementary documentation and useful websites, click here. This perceptive book critically explores why the United States continues to pursue failed policies in Latin America. What elements of the U.S. and Latin American political systems have allowed the Cold War, the war on drugs, and the war on terror to be conflated? Why do U.S. policies—ostensibly designed to promote the rule of law, human rights, and democracy—instead contribute to widespread corruption, erosion of government authority, human rights violations, and increasing destabilization? Why have the war on drugs and the war on terror neither reduced narcotics trafficking nor increased citizen security in Latin America? Why do Latin American governments, the European Union, and U.S. policymakers often work at cross-purposes when they all claim to be committed to "democratization" and "development" in the region? Leading scholars answer these questions by detailing the nature of U.S. economic and security strategies in Latin America and the Andean region since 1990. They analyze the impacts and responses to these strategies by policymakers, political leaders, and social movements throughout the region, explaining how programs often generate or exacerbate the very problems they were intended to solve. Reviewing official policy and its defenders and critics alike, this indispensable book focuses on the reasons for the failure of U.S. policies and their disastrous significance for Latin America and the United States alike. Contributions by: Adrián Bonilla, Pilar Gaitán, Monica Herz, Kenneth Lehman, Brian Loveman, Enrique Obando, Orlando J. Pérez, Eduardo Pizarro, Philipp Schönrock-Martínez, and Juan Gabriel Tokatlian

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: U.S. Security Policies in Latin America and the Andean Region, 1990–2006 Chapter 2: Plan Colombia and the Regional Andean Initiative: Lights and Shadows Chapter 3: Regional Security Policy and U.S.-Venezuelan Relations Chapter 4: U.S. Andean Policy, the Colombian Conflict, and Security in Ecuador Chapter 5: A "Medicine of Death"? U.S. Policy and Political Disarray in Bolivia, 1985–2006 Chapter 6: U.S. Policy toward Peru: At Odds for Twenty Years Chapter 7: Brazil, Andean Security, and U.S. Regional Security Policy Chapter 8: The European Union and Security and Defense Policy in the Andean Region Chapter 9: After Iraq: Next Colombia? The United States and (In)Security in South America

About the Author :
Brian Loveman is professor of political science and the Fred J. Hansen Chair for Peace Studies at San Diego State University.

Review :
Brian Loveman and his collaborators combine to provide a valuable contribution, one that is enhanced by clear writing, ample referencing, and the high qualifications of all the contributors. . . . A hard-hitting analysis. [A] scathing and devastating indictment of the ways in which security policy has failed in almost every way imaginable. . . . From an analytical but also, importantly, pedagogical point of view, one of the strengths of Addicted to Failure is its emphasis on primary documents. The chapters are well bound together, not only thematically but also methodologically, bringing official policy statements and postures to the fore. The story of the United States in Latin America has not changed for a century, just the terminology. The United States is still dumping Monsanto's 'Roundup' on the fields of poor farmers, now in the name of fighting 'narco-terrorism.' The United States is still training Latin American military officers in repression at Fort Benning, now in the name of spreading democracy and markets. The United States is still forging 'military-to-military ties,' only now it's part of the 'global war on terrorism.' Addicted to Failure brilliantly exposes the hypocrisy and deceit of U.S. security policy and imperialist activities in Latin America.