Description
Book SynopsisFor 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. policiesostensibly designed to promote the rule of law, human rights, and democracyinstead 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 Am
Trade ReviewBrian 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. -- David Scott Palmer, Boston University * Hispanic American Historical Review *
[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. * Latin American Research Review *
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. -- Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire
Table of ContentsChapter 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
