ABSTRACT
As threats to citizens and states increase and as non-state actors become more prominent in global and regional politics, the need for security cooperation has become an even more central and complex plank of politics and governance in Latin America and the Caribbean. The diverse and fragmented region is disproportionately affected by transnational crime, violence and insecurity. Influenced by these persistent conditions and the shifting power relations in the global security architecture, many countries have demonstrated their desire to exercise greater control over the direction of regional security policies and programmes. This chapter examines measures taken by Latin America and the Caribbean to increase and ‘decolonise’ cooperation and regional governance in security. Furthermore, it examines old and new security discourses and threats that inform these measures, and interrogates the degree to which regional security cooperation mechanisms respond to changes in the global and regional security structures as well as the power relations that underpin them. This chapter also considers the way in which increased South–South security cooperation, as exemplified in the Latin American and Caribbean context, affects the power relations embedded in traditional North–South relations, with the US as a key player.
