A Comparison of the Democratic Security Policy in Colombia and Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq

Abstract

The issue of security and democratic development in Colombia and Iraq are important for them as nations as well as for the international community. For Colombia, the Democratic Security Policy is a mechanism to establish government presence throughout the country, reclaim territory and the population from insurgent, paramilitary, and other criminal groups, and so end practically 60 years of internal conflict. Colombia's chronic instability not only creates tensions in the country, but also in the region as well as the United States. The DSP is the latest in a long line of efforts to secure the country and its citizens from the grasp of Colombia's insurgent and criminal groups. The Provincial Reconstruction Teams, imported into Iraq from Afghanistan, have adapted to a different SSTR environment with difficulty. The lack of coordination and resources, as well as security threats, has severely limited their effectiveness. This thesis seeks to examine the strengths and weaknesses of both the DSP in Colombia and the PRTs in Iraq to determine their effectiveness, as well as which methods, strategies, and practices might be transferable to other SSTR environments.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA509066

Entities

People

  • James A. Walker

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Criminals
  • Department Of State
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychological Operations
  • Societies
  • Teamwork
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse Science in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.