Brian Fonseca - Culture and National Security in the Americas

LEXINGTON BOOKS

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Fonseca, Brian, 1976- editor of compilation. | Gamarra, Eduardo, editor of compilation.

Title: Culture and national security in the Americas / edited by Brian Fonseca, Eduardo A. Gamarra.

Description: Lanham, MD : Lexington Books, [2017] | Series: Security in the Americas in the twenty-first century | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016047268 (print) | LCCN 2016057205 (ebook) | ISBN 9781498519588 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781498519595 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: National securityLatin America. | Strategic cultureLatin America. | Latin AmericaPolitics and government21st century.

Classification: LCC UA602.3 .C85 2017 (print) | LCC UA602.3 (ebook) | DDC 355/.03308dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016047268

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

In memory of Moises Caballero, Gerard LeChevalier, and my father, Ronald Fonseca.

International relations scholars, foreign policy analysts, and U.S. government planners frequently focus too much importance on traditional sources of power in shaping national security interests throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, while not giving sufficient attention to more non-traditional variables such as culture. In fact, culture is critical, if not fundamental, in understanding how security policy in the region is formed. To that end, Brian Fonseca and Eduardo A. Gamarra have assembled a superb group of scholars and practitioners to explore the intersection of culture and national security in the Americas, filling a void in the literature on this vastly importantand often understudiedsubject.

This text provides a strong analytic approach that is largely grounded in the concept of strategic culture. The analytic approach is applied to twelve countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The overall objective of this work is to understand the software that informs national security policy in the Americas. The authors in this book are leaders in the discipline. While some of the individuals are academicians, others have worked in government and have vast policy experience. The participants have diverse, multidisciplinary academic backgrounds from history, geography, political science, and sociologyamong other fields. In addition to the academic diversity, the contributors come from throughout the hemisphere, offering a broad set of perspectives often not seen in these kinds of volumes.

Culture and National Security in the Americas is part of an ongoing effort to bridge the divide between academia and the policy community. Sound, scientific, and rigorous academic research is essential in informing decision-makers who must address the litany of complicated problems, in an environment that is increasingly becoming more complicated and diffused. Thus, this text is not only useful for academics, students, and foreign policy analysts, but it can truly support policymakers understanding of the deeper, more salient currents effecting the security orientation and national security policy formation of countries of the Americas.

As a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Western Hemisphere under President Obama, it is my honor and privilege to endorse this work, and I hope that it leads to fruitful debates and exchanges between academicians, policy analysts, practitioners, and students. More importantly, I hope that it leads to a better understanding of the overall security environment in a way that promotes peace in the Americas.

Frank O. Mora, PhD

Director, Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center

Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs

Florida International University

Brian Fonseca and Eduardo A. Gamarra

Culture and National Security in the Americas is a humble attempt to examine the principal considerations that shape and inform national security policy across Latin America and the Caribbean. Enlisting the brightest minds from around the Western Hemisphere, the editors objective is to map the most important historical, geographic, cultural, political, economic, and security characteristics of the national security orientations of the nations of this hemisphere.