Latin American cities endure some of the highest rates of crime in the world while many rural areas suffer the ravages of drug trafficking and violence by armed actors. Surprisingly, relatively few civilian researchers in the region have chosen to specialize in defense or security studies, a topic frequently left to military experts.
An international group of young scholars at the Security and Defense Network of Latin America (RESDAL) is working to change that. RESDAL hosts young researchers, with backgrounds in social sciences, business, and international relations, from across Latin America and the United States at its Buenos Aires headquarters to study regional security issues. They work in multi-disciplinary teams to examine current issues and then take their newly acquired expertise back to their home countries.
"We believe overcoming the stigma associated with defense and security issues is essential to building a new civilian capacity in this area," a team of young RESDAL researchers wrote recently in a special issue of Americas Quarterly (an OSI grantee) on emerging leaders. "The next step is to deepen the communication between the civilian and military sectors," the article argued.
Over the past year, these young scholars have been working on the fourth edition of RESDAL's Comparative Atlas of Defense in Latin America. This comprehensive reference work provides an overview of defense and security forces throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, including information on budgets, legal and political frameworks, and organizational structures.
RESDAL, an OSI grantee since 2003, is a network of 280 civilian experts that has become the leading civil society voice in debates over security and defense issues throughout Latin America. It works to promote democracy and security sector reform in the region by fostering collaboration among institutions and individuals dedicated to security issues.