Pulse: Politics


Strategic Insights: Caribbean Security Issues

This report was originally published by the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute.

INTRODUCTION

Outside of military, law enforcement, and some academic circles, security issues are rarely part of the discourse about the Caribbean. Yet, during the Cold War, the region’s contiguity with the United States made its largest island, Cuba, the focal point of the world’s closest publicly known approximation to nuclear war.

The Evolution of Transnational Organized Crime in Peru

This report was originally published in Latin America Goes Global, May 4, 2017.

In March 2017, Carmen Masais, head of Peru’s counterdrug organization DEVIDA, reported that the nation had 55,000 hectares of coca under cultivation, an amount higher than that estimated by the U.S., and more than 36% greater than that calculated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

EconVue Spotlight

Taking the Long View: Financial Sector Regulatory Overhaul and the Trump Administration

Donald Trump vowed as candidate and newly elected president to “do a number” on Dodd Frank, the sweeping 2010 financial services and consumer regulatory reforms and Dodd Frank’s sidekick, the Volcker Rule. While directives by presidential fiat to Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and regulators to take initial steps, the congressional action needed to overturn Dodd Frank is far less certain. 

Donald Trump and Paul Ryan’s Plan to Put Foreign Investors First

The “Border Adjustment Tax” (BAT) endorsed recently by President Trump is his administration’s first foray into international economics. It is an inauspicious start.

Why the U.S. Can't Ignore Latin America's Security Challenges

I have just published a new article, "Why the U.S. Can't Ignore Latin America's Security Challenges," with my Colombian Co-author Dr. Roman Ortiz, in the journal World Politics Review.

The article examines the security challenges currently facing Latin America and the Caribbean, and finds a surprisingly large number of areas where a combination of political, criminal, and other dynamics could present significant challenges for policymakers from the U.S. and the region in the coming months. 

Indian and Chinese Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Comparative Assessment

I am sharing my new monograph, "Indian and Chinese Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Comparative Assessment."

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