Reform,democratization, and counter-insurgency: evaluating the US experience in Cold War-era Latin America |
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Authors: | Hal Brands |
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Institution: | 1. Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University , Durham, NC, USA hsb11@duke.edu |
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Abstract: | Current debate on US counter-insurgency doctrine is dominated by the notion that promoting ‘legitimacy’ and ‘good governance’ constitutes a central strategic imperative. This idea is hardly new; during the Cold War US officials often sought to encourage democratization and socio-economic reform as antidotes to revolution in Latin America. This article reviews four such cases – Venezuela during the first half of the 1960s, Guatemala throughout the 1960s, Nicaragua during the late 1970s, and El Salvador during the 1980s. The purpose is to bring a historical perspective to bear on current debates about the feasibility of US counter-insurgency strategy by evaluating the effectiveness of previous campaigns to promote improved governance in developing societies wracked by guerrilla violence. |
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Keywords: | Insurgency governance Latin America Cold War democratization legitimacy guerrillas Alliance for Progress |
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