Abstract
On November 19, 2002, US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with other hemispheric defense ministers in Santiago, Chile. Referring to the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Rumsfeld noted, “When terrorists are driven out of countries—as they were in Afghanistan— they often find havens in the world’s many ungoverned regions.” He went on to argue, “In this hemisphere, narco-terrorists, hostage takers, and arms smugglers operate in ungoverned areas, using them as bases from which to destabilize democratic governments” (Rumsfeld, 2002). This concept of “ungoverned spaces” became a key part of the rhetorical framework utilized by the Bush administration to advance its post-9/11 foreign policy goals throughout the world. In Latin America, as other chapters in this volume detail, the concept was employed to justify policy initiatives in Mexico, Central America, and Haiti. This chapter examines the incorporation of the concept into US foreign policy toward Colombia, focusing specifically on the preexisting policy initiative known as “Plan Colombia.”
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© 2014 Gary Prevost, Harry E. Vanden, Carlos Oliva Campos, and Luis Fernando Ayerbe
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Dugas, J.C. (2014). Old Wine in New Wineskins: Incorporating the “Ungoverned Spaces” Concept into Plan Colombia. In: Prevost, G., Vanden, H.E., Oliva Campos, C., Ayerbe, L.F. (eds) US National Security Concerns in Latin America and the Caribbean. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137379528_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137379528_8
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