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Hal Brands

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Hal Brands is the author of From Berlin to Baghdad: America's Search for Purpose in the Post-Cold War World (2008). He writes widely on U.S. foreign policy, Latin American security issues, and international crime and gang violence. His recent monograph, Mexico's Narco-Insurgency and U.S. Counter-Drug Policy, was published by the Army War College in June 2009. His next project, a history of the Cold War in Latin America, will be released by Harvard University Press in late 2010. He works as a defense analyst in Washington, D.C.

Articles written by Hal Brands

Los Zetas and Mexico's Transnational Drug War

By Hal Brands 25 Dec 2009 | World Politics Review

Originally composed of 31 army deserters who went to work for a cartel boss, Los Zetas have evolved over the past decade into a sophisticated criminal enterprise with more than 1,000 members. Having begun as hired guns, the Zetas now represent the single greatest threat to the Mexican state. On the heels of their meteoric rise within Mexico, they are now embracing a broader international agenda.

Los Zetas and Mexico's Transnational Drug War

By Hal Brands 15 Sep 2009 | World Politics Review

The Rise of the Center in Latin America

By Hal Brands 13 Jul 2009 | World Politics Review

The news from Latin America has been mostly bad of late, with drug-fueled violence, radical populism, and, more recently, the coup in Honduras grabbing the headlines. Amid this turmoil, however, Latin America has also experienced a quieter and far more positive trend. There has been much talk recently about a "lurch to the left" in Latin America. What we're now seeing is the rise of the center.

Gangs and the New Insurgency in Latin America

By Hal Brands 10 Jun 2009 | World Politics Review

Throughout the developing world, but especially in Latin America, the post-Cold War era has seen the emergence of increasingly powerful and violent criminal organizations, often referred to as "third-generation gangs." These groups have seized control over a myriad of illicit commercial networks, and now use violence and corruption to undermine the governments that oppose them.

Mexico's Narco-Insurgency

By Hal Brands 22 Dec 2008 | World Politics Review

When Barack Obama takes office on Jan. 20, his foreign policy will almost certainly be consumed by the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet Obama would do well to pay equal attention to a third ongoing insurgency, one that is currently more violent than the war in Iraq and possibly more threatening to American interests. This insurgency is raging just across America's southern frontier in Mexico.