Bøger af Vanda Felbab-Brown

Over the past two years, the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) and the University of Pittsburgh Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies (Center for Latin American Studies and Office of the Provost) have conducted two conferences: The first was entitled "Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability in Mexico, Colombia, and the Caribbean: Implications for U.S. National Security," and the second was "Violent Armed Groups: A Global Challenge." Keynote speakers for the first conference were: Bruce Bagley, Professor and Chair, Department of International Studies, University of Miami and Director, University of Miami's Center of Latin American Studies, who addressed "What Can the Mexican State Do to Combat Organized Crime?"; and Jorge Chabat, Professor/Investigator, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (Center for Research and Teaching in Economics), who discussed "The Drug War in Mexico: Dilemmas and Options." Speakers for the second conference included Dr. Robert Mandel, Professor of International Affairs at Lewis & Clark College, and John Robb, author of the book Brave New War. Dr. Mandel addressed "Global Security Upheaval: Armed Non-State Groups as Stability Enhancers," and Mr. Robb addressed "The Bazaar of Violence." The conference sponsors found the presentations at the two conferences to be sufficiently complementary to combine them in a series of monographs under the main title of Violent Armed Groups. Specific monographs within the series will have subtitles encompassing groups of works selected from among the presentations by the four keynote speakers and over 40 panelists. The introduction to this first monograph, "Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability," will serve to: (1) introduce the series by providing general conceptions of the global security challenges posed by violent armed groups; (2) identify the issues of greatest import to scholars studying the phenomenon; and, (3) emphasize the need for the U.S. Government to understand variations in the challenges it faces from a wide range of potential enemies. In this first report, Dr. Phil Williams and Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown provide the strategic context for the series and highlight many of the issues that will be addressed in more detail by authors of subsequent monographs in the series. SSI is pleased to offer this report in fulfillment of its mission to assist U.S. Army and Department of Defense senior leaders and strategic thinkers in understanding the key issues of the day.

"Most policymakers see counterinsurgency and counternarcotics policy as two sides of the same coin. Stop the flow of drug money, the logic goes, and the insurgency will wither away. But the conventional wisdom is dangerously wrongheaded, as Vanda Felbab-Brown argues in Shooting Up.Counternarcotics campaigns, particularly those focused on eradication, typically fail to bankrupt belligerent groups that rely on the drug trade for financing. Worse, they actually strengthen insurgents by increasing their legitimacy and popular support.Felbab-Brown, a leading expert on drug interdiction efforts and counterinsurgency, draws on interviews and fieldwork in some of the world's most dangerous regions to explain how belligerent groups have become involved in drug trafficking and related activities, including kidnapping, extortion, and smuggling. Shooting Up shows vividly how powerful guerrilla and terrorist organizations -- including Peru's Shining Path, the FARC and the paramilitaries in Colombia, and the Taliban in Afghanistan -- have learned to exploit illicit markets. In addition, the author explores the interaction between insurgent groups and illicit economies in frequently overlooked settings, such as Northern Ireland, Turkey, and Burma.While aggressive efforts to suppress the drug trade typically backfire, Shooting Up shows that a laissez-faire policy toward illicit crop cultivation can reduce support for the belligerents and, critically, increase cooperation with government intelligence gathering. When combined with interdiction targeting major traffickers, this strategy gives policymakers a better chance of winning both the war against the insurgents and the war on drugs."

Crime and security expert Vanda Felbab-Brown conducted more than eight years of fieldwork across Mexico analysing policy interventions in key crime and violence hotspots, as well as in control cases. The result is Narco Noir: Mexico's Cartels, Cops, and Corruption, an extensive and unique set of organised crime case studies.

Takes the reader around the world to areas where national governance has broken down - or never really existed. In these places, the vacuum has been filled by local gangs, militias, and warlords, some with ideological or political agendas and others focused primarily on economic gain.

Poaching and trafficking in wildlife are rife, yet no consensus exists about how to combat them. This book provides a global perspective on these twin scourges, and draws out real policy-oriented solutions.

After more than a decade of great effort and sacrifice by America and its allies, the Taliban still has not been defeated, and many Afghans believe that a civil war is coming. Aspiration and Ambivalence analyses US and international efforts in Afghanistan and offers detailed recommendations for dealing with the precarious situation leading up to the 2014 transition to Afghan control and beyond.