Colombian Lessons? Assessing the Practical and Normative Consequences of Latin American South-South Security Cooperation
This joint research project, led by Prof. Dr. Markus-Michael Müller (Roskilde University) and Prof. Dr. Markus Hochmüller (Freie Universität Berlin/University of Oxford), offers the first systematic analysis of the practical and normative consequences of South-South security cooperation in Latin America. It examines the transfer of security policy knowledge by Latin America's most important security-exporting country, Colombia. By focusing on the role of local actors in two recipient countries, the project assesses the effectiveness, empirical legitimacy and local impact of these new forms of South-South cooperation (SSC) in Latin American security governance. Given the violent nature of democratic orders in the region, the project examines the consequences of security-oriented SSC for the rule of law and the democratic quality of security provision in the recipient countries. Based on field research (interviews and participant observation) and analysis of key security documents, the project examines how Colombian police and military training as a horizontal mode of cooperation changes doctrinal and operational features of security governance in recipient countries, as well as how local security actors translate, appropriate, modify or contest Colombian expertise and what normative implications this has.
