This book illustrates the plethora of security concerns of the Americas in the 21st century. It presents the work of a number of prolific scholars and analysts in the continents of America. The book provides one of the only expansive applications of theory to a wide geographical area. It offers new perspectives and urges readers to take theory seriously through use. Within the Americas, we find a number of important issues that compose of this geographic security complex. Most important are the threats that supersede borders: drug trafficking, migration, health, and environment. These threats...

This book examines the history of United States foreign policy toward Cuba, focusing on critical junctures and recent strategic shifts. Restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba, which were severed officially in January 1961, was a huge shift in U.S. foreign policy. Relations between Cuba and the United States were tumultuous throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and almost escalated into full blown nuclear war in October 1962 during the Cuban missile crisis. The restoration of diplomatic relations marks a fundamental departure as the two countries chart a new course into the...

The Americas face many security challenges, including drug trafficking, organized crime, guerrilla movements, terrorism, and environmental challenges. Experts have long debated whether some countries in the region can be classified as failed states. While various states in the Americas have been labeled as failed states, calling a country a failed state is quite controversial and requires a precise definition of what constitutes a failed state. This book instead discusses fragile states in the Americas. Fragile states are weak states that are fertile grounds for organized crime groups and...

This book studies systemic vulnerabilities and their impact on states and individual survival. The author examines a number of specific case-studies focusing on military, economic, environmental, political and cyber vulnerabilities, and how different states are impacted by them.

Weak states suffer from systemic vulnerabilities and trade whatever political power they have to a great power for economic assistance. If enough weak states support a particular great power, then that great power will become more powerful relative to competitors.

The authors analyze how illicit markets come together, issues of destabilization and international security, the effect of legitimate enterprises crowded out of developing countries, and ultimately, illicit markets' cost to human life.