Best Practices Crossing the Pacific: Security Sector Development from the Andes to Asia
Abstract
As the Asia-Pacific region continues its momentous rise in the twenty-first century, issues of internal security sector governance and security sector transformation have become increasingly paramount. While many Asia-Pacific states in the area of security sector development serve as rich laboratories of best practices in reshaping the modern relationships of civil-military relations, security practitioners in Asia-Pacific states would do well by evaluating models outside of the Western, European, and African regions, turning their focus also to South American case studies. Indeed, perhaps the pivotal example in successful Asia-Pacific security sector development resides in Chile, where modern civil-military relations have catapulted Chilean society and government out of a period of moral anguish, political contestation, and overarching military oversight to the point where a thriving relationship is emerging between the military, civil-society, legal and political institutions. Chile serves as a salient example not only for its dedicated commitment to re-constituting the balance between military and civilian representatives, but in carefully nurturing a discourse that has allowed both sides to understand over a process of twenty-five years both how and where mutual respect, accommodation, and reconciliation are found. Present in Chile today is to a large degree a fully consolidated democratic relationship born from a deliberate process of modernizing state institutions alongside the social necessities of a demanding middle class citizenry.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- AD1032417
Entities
People
- Justin Nankivell
Organizations
- Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies