Russell W. Ramsey

Essays on Latin American Security: the Collected Writings of a Scholar-implementer Russell W. Ramsey

'Security Issues in Latin America' is a compilation of previously published work by Dr. Russell W. Ramsey, from 1961 to 2002. The articles were published in academic journals such as Hispanic American Historical Review, Latin American Research Review, Journal of Inter-American Studies, Human Rights Review, and North-South Magazine; and in journals covering strategy and military affairs such as Parameters, Naval War College Review, Journal of Comparative Strategy, Strategic Review, Military Review, Infantry Magazine, and Journal of Low Intensity Conflict and Law Enforcement. Latin American policy analysts will take note of Hemispheric events occurring at the time of each article's publication. The book is divided into five topical sections. First, Ramsey lays out his own historiographical orientation, calling the region a unique amalgam of non-Western Africa, indigenous America, and late medieval Europe. The section on regional literature is his evaluation of several hundred works published during a long career. The section devoted to sub-regions examines areas that were once contested between communism and democracy. A section on the Republic of Colombia displays the author's long fascination with that tempestuous democracy. Finally, Ramsey's section on the US military tutelage of the Latin American armed forces contends that the US Army, primarily, took on the small but corporatist latino military forces in 1940 and contributed greatly to their professionalization under western democratic concepts by Cold War's end.