Introductory remarks: CLAIP in the face of the challenges of peace and security in the 21st century

Abstract

Forty years after its foundation in Oaxtepec , Morelos, Mexico , the Latin American Peace Research Council (CLAIP) has witnessed a deep transformation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) . During the Eighties, the military regimes gradually gave way to democratically elected governments. However, the elites that had initially supported military coups adapted to emerging social and political conditions and kept their economic control in the majority of the countries in LAC. Thus, LAC is still the most unequal region in the world, even if wealth in other regions that opened up to the neoliberal model has also been concentrated into a few hands (USA, China, Russia, and South Korea).