Message from the Editor

The Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies is pleased to present its second inaugural-year issue of Security and Defense Studies Review.  This journal was launched to provide a refereed venue for civilian and military scholars and practitioners to write about and share analyses of contemporary defense and security issues of relevance to the Western Hemisphere.  We have been pleased to receive a growing number of submissions from both established and junior scholars in the region.  We invite more.  We welcome papers from a variety of disciplines, as well as your suggestions as to themes to be developed over the coming years.  The journal is provided as a service to the defense and security studies scholarly community.

The articles presented in this issue focus on some of the critical issues in security and defense studies: an analysis of defense economics and defense spending in Chile, weapons system modernization and potential for arms races, one country’s historical experience with obligatory military service, and, in the public security arena – a topic that needs much more policy attention -- an examination of the challenge to the Brazilian Military Police force to adjust their professional education to better meet the demands of today’s policing.  On behalf of the authors, let me thank the anonymous peer reviewers for their excellent and critical remarks on earlier drafts.

We hope to provoke dialogue with our essays and commentaries.  In this issue, Nigel Hannaford offers a thoughtful essay on the public relations campaign of the Canadian military in following the crisis provoked by troop misbehavior during the 1992 deployment of Canadian forces to Somalia.  He asks whether the policy of openness and availability has had an impact on public opinion and whether the military-media relationship has changed significantly as a consequence of the policy.  In a different vein, Spain’s Ambassador to the White House, Javier Ruperez, reacts with emotion to the September 11 terrorist attack on New York’s twin towers.  He refers to Spain’s own 30-year struggle with domestic terrorism to conclude that “for ethical, political and practical social reasons, there is no room to legitimize terrorist violence under any circumstances….”   We invite your comments on these essay topics for the next edition.

CHDS will continue to support the Security and Defense Studies Review in 2002.  Initially, we will continue to publish two numbers per year, but when there are sufficient numbers of quality submissions we will expand publication to three times per year.  In 2002, we plan to add two sections—a section of Internet Links to relevant Web pages and resources, and a section of thematic book, essay or research reviews.  We invite our readers’ contributions to and recommendations for these sections.  Also in 2002, Dr. Herbert Huser will join the journal as Associate Editor.  This will allow us to be more aggressive in seeking out materials for publication and in responding to demands from our readers.  We look forward to working with Herb in the coming years.

I hope that you enjoy this issue and we look forward to receiving your suggestions, your commentary and your submissions for the Spring 2002 issue.

                        Margaret Daly Hayes
                        Director, Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies and
                        Editor, Security and Defense Studies Review

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