TY - JOUR
T1 - West Germany, Guatemala, and the Transnational Dynamics of Cold War Police Assistance
AU - Müller, Markus-Michael
AU - Bennewitz, Fabian
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - This article assesses the Federal Republic of Germany’s (FRG) police-building program for Guatemala (1986-1991). In drawing on interviews, new archival evidence collected in Germany, Guatemala and the United States, as well as by applying analytical insights from relationalist sociological International Relations scholarship on transnational fields, we demonstrate that the FRG’s police-building program was shaped by the contingent convergence of international and domestic political context conditions in Germany and Guatemala, which were mediated by the agency of the involved Guatemalan actors. Resulting interrelations, we argue, determined the project’s trajectory, particularly as the agency of Guatemalan actors required ongoing German adaptation efforts and program revisions, which, in the end pushed the program “off track.”
AB - This article assesses the Federal Republic of Germany’s (FRG) police-building program for Guatemala (1986-1991). In drawing on interviews, new archival evidence collected in Germany, Guatemala and the United States, as well as by applying analytical insights from relationalist sociological International Relations scholarship on transnational fields, we demonstrate that the FRG’s police-building program was shaped by the contingent convergence of international and domestic political context conditions in Germany and Guatemala, which were mediated by the agency of the involved Guatemalan actors. Resulting interrelations, we argue, determined the project’s trajectory, particularly as the agency of Guatemalan actors required ongoing German adaptation efforts and program revisions, which, in the end pushed the program “off track.”
KW - Global Cold War, West Germany, Guatemala, Police-assistance, Transnational Fields
M3 - Journal article
JO - Journal of Cold War Studies
JF - Journal of Cold War Studies
SN - 1520-3972
ER -