Grant Recipients 2009-2010
Esteban Benavides
Biography:
Esteban Benavides is an analyst and manager of projects for Latin America at the International Center for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC) in Montreal, Canada. Esteban holds a Masters Degree in Sociology with specialization in urban management from the University Marc Bloch in Strasbourg, France. He began in the area of urban safety in the UN-Habitat’s “Safer Cities" program, in Kenya and has worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and as a researcher and manager of projects in achieving diagnostic local security in the city of Montreal. In ICCP, he is responsible for maintaining and expanding the Center's networks in Latin America, to develop cooperative projects and to expand the knowledge base, analyzing programs, policies and tools of public safety and crime prevention from the region.
Proposal: Advances and challenges of crime prevention intiatives in post-conflict countries: Guatemala
Crime and violence comprise one of the major challenges facing the countries of Latin America. This culture of violence is the product of a series of social and economic factors, which is associated with, in some cases, the effects of past armed conflicts. This has weakened the institutions and torn apart the social fabric, in addition to being an obstacle to development, reducing the opportunities for education, employment and citizenship of a generation of young people. The aim of this paper is to review policies and prevention initiatives that have been implemented in Guatemala over the last decade and discuss the challenges and what progress has been made. In turn, the article will analyze security needs, like the demand for security from the general public and civil society. Ultimately, the objective of this article is to better understand how prevention is implemented in post-conflict countries, the main obstacles, and major achievements.
Alexandra Abello Colak
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Biography:
Alexandra Abello Colak is a doctoral student at the University of Bradford. Her academic work focuses on the links between security and participation, the transformation of global and local security paradigms and the provision of security in communities affected by inequality and violence. Before embarking on her PhD research project, Alexandra completed a BA in International Relations at Universidad del Rosario in Colombia and an MA in Conflict Resolution at the University of Bradford. She has published articles in English and Spanish on community policing and on different aspects of the relationship between state and society in contexts of violence and conflict and also on processes of reconciliation.
Proposal: The Role of Civil Society in the Security Transformation of Medellin, Colombia: Challenges and Opportunities
Medellin, the well known Colombian city, that in the early 90s was the most violent city in the world with homicide rates of 381 per 100,000 inhabitants, experienced an impressive reduction of the most visible signs of deadly violence in the last five years. In the light of the important transformations taking place in this city, my research project seeks to identify the incentives and obstacles civil society encounters in the transformation of security discourse and practice. By exploring how nongovernmental public action interacts with the state and other non-state security actors, this research also intends to inform the current debate on security on how civil spaces and a more active citizenship culture might affect state’s capacity to recognize the security needs of the most vulnerable communities, to tackle the deep-rooted causes of insecurity and to prevent the resurgence of violence.
Carlos Rodriguez Ulloa
Biography:
Carlos Rodriguez Ulloa is a apecialist on issues of regional integration, security and defense, internationalist of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Master in Political Science and a PhD candidate in the Univesitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He is currently professor at the Center of International Relations (FCPyS-UNAM) and is a member of the Collective Analysis of Security and Democracy (CASEDE). He was a research assistant at the Center for Research on North America (Cisano-UNAM), the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, Washington, D.C., as well as fellow of the Center for Hemispheric Defense and Studies (CHDS).
Proposal: The Institutionalization of Security and Defense in North America: A 21st Century Regional Focus
This investigation will analyze the generation and institutionalization of stable patterns in the defense and security relations in North America. To accomplish this, the study will examine the Merida Initiative (2007) and the Border Security Initiative in the Southwest (2009) as part of a broader process of institutionalization of security and defense in the region. We beleive that these arrangements respond to major changes in the threats to security that, combined with a regional integration process and the consequent increase in interdependence, are generating regional proposals with implications for multiple stakeholders.
Paschal Badong
Biography:
Paschal is an ECOWAS Fellow, presently pursuing an MA in Conflict, Security and Development at King's College, London. He served in the Ghana Army for 13 years before retiring as a Major in 2008. During his military career, he served on peacekeeping missions with ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations in the Lebanon, Ivory Coast,
Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His last mission was with the African Union Mission in Darfur. Paschal has an MSc in Security and Risk Management from the University of Leicester. His research interests are in terrorism preparedness and private security.
Proposal: Security Provision in Ghana: The Role of Non-State Actors
Security is an important condition for development, and the state has traditionally provided it to its citizens. In most developing countries, formal state security institutions are either unable or unwilling to meet the security needs of their citizens, particularly the poor. This has led to the situation where citizens depend on private, non-state actors to provide for their security needs, resulting in mixed consequences. The aim of this study is to investigate the role that non-state actors play in the provision of security to particularly the poor in Ghana. The study will contribute to knowledge and thinking on security provision in the country.
Aries Arugay
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Biography:
Aries Ayuson Arugay is a research fellow at the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, Inc. (ISDS Philippines) and assistant professor of political science (on leave) at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. He served as coordinator of the ISDS Security Sector Reform (SSR) program including a research project that generated an assessment tool for security sector governance for the Philippines supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). At present, he is a PhD in political science student at Georgia State University under a Fulbright scholarship. His teaching and research interests are comparative democratization, civil society and contentious politics, and SSR.
Proposal: Spheres of Military Autonomy under Democratic Rule: Implications and Prospects for Security Sector Transformation in the Philippines
This research project is interested in explaining the persistence and steady expansion of the spheres of military autonomy in spite of democratization and how it affects security sector transformation (SST) in the Philippines. Focusing on three particular areas – human rights implementation, budgetary allocation, and security and defense policy – this project aims to expose the extent of military influence which inevitably has implications on current SST efforts. By looking at the ways and means by which the military obstructs and limits the impact on SST, future policies and frameworks can be better informed and hopefully might be made sensitive to these political realities.
Rajenda Mulmi
Biography:
Rajendra is a Chevening Scholar, presently doing a MA in Development Studies at Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in Sussex. Prior to the degree, he was working for an international conflict transformation organisation called Search for Common Ground in Nepal. He has more than a decade of experience working in the field of youth development. In 2001, he founded a youth-led NGO called Youth Initiative and in 2005 the Association of Youth Organisations in Nepal, an umbrella of youth-led NGOs. He has also served on the leadership of various international youth networks and provided services to a number of international agencies including the World Bank, UN, Save the Children and UNESCO. His current research interests are youth, conflict, security and democratisation.
Proposal: Youth Perspectives on Security Sector Transformation in Nepal
Security sector transformation requires a better understanding of how it is perceived by various groups. Youth are one of the important actors in violent conflict, both as participants and victims. Failing to meet their concerns might lead to the dangers of the conflict reigniting. Understanding security from a youth perspective is necessary to devise appropriate frameworks, strategies, and programs to address youth vulnerability to violence and insecurities. The study will contribute youth perspectives to the ongoing security debate and discourse on security transformation.
José Carlos G. Aguiar
Biography:
José Carlos Aguiar is an urban anthropologist specialized in security, (il)legality and policing issues, and has conducted extensive fieldwork in Latin America, particularly in Mexico and the tri-border region in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. He holds a PhD in Social Sciences and a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Latin American Studies (TCLA) from the University of Leiden. His research interests include the ethnography of illegality, transnational commodity chains, borders, police, and discourses of (in)security.
Proposal: Informal Security at the Tri Border Region: Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay
Since the 19th century, the Paraguayan, Brazilian and Argentinean states have launched different programs to delimitate their national borders at the Tri-border area. Through the years, the zone enjoyed some kind of regime of exception and turned into a ‘forgotten’ wild spot, where contraband expanded with the illegal trade of cars, cigarettes and other goods. With the arrival of new ethnic groups, mainly Muslim and Asian migrants, the urban area at the cities of Ciudad de Este (Paraguay), Foz de Iguazú (Brazil) and Puerto Iguazú (Argentina) experienced a demographic boom. Yet, since the early 2000s new security programmes have been introduced in the region. This region poses interesting questions regarding the ethnography of national borders, the reduction of crime and illegality against the background of globalisation, and South-South relations in the context of transnational networks.
Marie Doucey
Biography:
Marie Doucey was born in 1988 in France, where she lived most of her life. In 2009, she earned her specialty degree from the Institute of Latin American Political Studies in Paris (Sciences Po). Her professional and personal journey led her to Haiti to develop a sensitivity to the socio-political challenges facing the country. She received a scholarship (2007) to conduct a field study comparison among Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica on "Music, a Vector of Political Affirmation of Identities, Social and Cultural Rights in the Caribbean." Currently she lives in Costa Rica where she carries out with DEMUCA on decentralization and local authorities in Haiti. Next year she will return to Sciences Po to pursue a Masters in International Relations with a speciality on International Security.
Proposal: Security and Gender in Haiti: Women in the Dominican-Haitian Border Zone
The border between Haiti and Dominican Republic is very porous and vulnerable, which poses a risk to the safety of the area. Moreover, the reduced presence of the Haitian state - and its absence in some parts – has aided in converting the border into a no-law zone. In this context of insecurity and violence, those who are most affected are the women who are in the midst of illegal migration, prostitution and crime. The investigation "Security in Haiti and Gender: Women in the Dominican-Haitian Border Region" will seek to identify the role and position of women in the context of (in)security in the border area, with the aim of bringing Haitian women into the formulation of public policies on security.
Kwaba Chako Audace
Biography:
Chako Kwaba Audace is a finalist in Medicine at the Catholic University of Bukavu (UCB). He holds a degree in Latin and Philosophy at the College from the University Alfajiri Bukavu. From 2006 to 2009, he worked in a conflict prevention program in the African Great Lakes region with international NGO Beneveolentia, where he continues to work as a consultant. He is in charge of Club for Health Promotion programs such as Santa Plus, as well as programs on youth training in media and communication with the non-profit association PLED (Advocating for Entrepreneurship Development). Currently, he is a civil society actor within the for the security sector reform (RARSS / Sud-Kivu).
Proposal: Security and Gender in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Devastating and inhumane wars have taken place in the eastern DRC for over ten years now. The province of South Kivu, the area of study, has been particularly affected. Women are the greatest victims of these atrocities, and the physical and psychosocial consequences on them are unimaginable. This project will involve the particpation of rural women in South Kivu in the search for definitive solutions to problems of insecurity. The project will also involve advocacy development with provincial authorities and synergistic associations in the defense of human rights in South Kivu for the heightened consideration of women with respect to policy solutions.
Aylin Ozet
Biography:
Aylin is in her final year as a PhD student in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. She works as a part-time teaching staff in the same department and is also the co-convener of the Security Research Group. Her area of research is Critical Security Studies; she is also interested in European Politics and the literature on Civil Society. Her doctoral research draws a picture of the multiplicity of voices on security that exist within civil society in Turkey. Prior to her doctoral studies, she studied International Relations in Turkey, European Studies in the United Kingdom and Political Science in Canada.
Proposal: Critical Voices and Silences on Security within Civil Society in Turkey: Marginalised Insecurities and Security Demands
The research project aims to explore the security perceptions, insecurities and security demands of poor, less powerful and/or marginalized sectors of society in Turkey. It focuses on civil society actors, mostly grassroots level non-governmental organisations, which are excluded from the security realm-debates and/or cannot use the ‘security language’. The aim is to bring together narratives of insecurities articulated by such civil society actors that function as ‘voices’ of marginalised and disadvantaged segments of society. The research looks at organisations working on issues relating to women, gays and lesbians, homeless children, disabled people, refugees, gypsies and human rights, more broadly.
FACULTAD LATINOAMERICANA DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES (FLACSO- CHILE)
Av. Dag Hammarskjold 3269, Vitacura, Santiago de Chile.
Phones : (56 2) 2900200 - (56 2) 2900212
Email: securitytransformation@flacso.cl