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

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Brian Loveman
Rowman & Littlefield, 2006 - History - 367 pages
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: Adri n Bonilla, Pilar Gait n, Monica Herz, Kenneth Lehman, Brian Loveman, Enrique Obando, Orlando J. P rez, Eduardo Pizarro, Philipp Sch nrock-Mart nez, and Juan Gabriel Tokatlian
 

Contents

IV
1
V
53
VIII
80
IX
103
X
130
XII
169
XIII
197
XIV
222
XV
237
XVI
257
XVII
315
XVIII
335
XIX
355
XX
359
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About the author (2006)

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