Vanda Felbab-Brown
Lawfare
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Vanda:
Will the Taliban Regime Survive?
The Taliban’s survival depends on how it handles and prevents armed opposition to its rule and manages the country’s economy and relations with external actors. → Read More
U.S. Policing After Wave One of COVID-19
What should police focus on during and after the pandemic? → Read More
The Extinction Market: Wildlife Trafficking and How to Counter It
The Extinction Market explores the causes, means, and consequences of poaching and wildlife trafficking, with a view to finding ways of suppressing them. Vanda Felbab-Brown evaluates the effectiveness of various tools, including bans on legal trade, law enforcement, interdiction, and others. → Read More
The Wall: The real costs of a barrier between the United States and Mexico
In her Brookings Essay, "The Wall," Brookings Senior Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown explains the true costs of building a barrier on the U.S.-Mexico border. → Read More
The vanishing vaquita and the challenges of combating wildlife trafficking
On this year’s Ocean Day, June 8, the desperate race to save the world’s smallest porpoise, the vaquita, from extinction highlights the complexities of one key aspect of ocean conservation—poaching and wildlife trafficking—and the challenges of reconciling global and local governance. → Read More
Stealing water | Brookings Institution
Fresh water is vital for human survival and health, the production of food and energy, industrial activity, and the functioning of the entire global economy. Water scarcity, whatever its cause–natural catastrophes, pollution, poor water management, or theft and smuggling—can have grave consequences. → Read More
Drugs, crime, and immigration: Nicer words from Trump, still bad policies
In his first speech before Congress, President Trump's remarks lacked the vitriol many have come to expect from him. But the content of his policies on drugs, crime, and immigration has remained essentially unchanged, and is deeply problematic. → Read More
Trump’s speech to Congress: Reactions from foreign policy experts
In his first speech before Congress, President Trump said the United States will pursue "direct, robust and meaningful engagement with the world.” Foreign policy experts at Brookings break down what he said. → Read More
President Trump’s border wall
Vanda Felbab-Brown President Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexican border which threatens to damage crucial cooperation between the two countries without solving unauthorized immigration to the United States. → Read More
What’s next for Somalia
After several months of delay, a new president of Somalia was elected on February 8, 2017. The fact that an election took place at all should be counted a success. → Read More
U.S.-Mexican relations
Overwhelming evidence shows that it is in the interests of the United States and Mexico to continue deepening their economic and security cooperation. Vanda Felbab-Brown offers concrete policy prescriptions for doing so under the next U.S. administration. → Read More
Why are efforts to counter al-Shabab falling so flat?
Al-Shabab’s operational capacities and intimidation power have grown in the past year. Many of Kenya’s counterterrorism policies have been counterproductive, and counterinsurgency efforts by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have at best stagnated. → Read More
Global consensus and dissensus on drug policy
In a new Brookings Cafeteria podcast (audio below), Senior Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown discusses the upcoming Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016), to take place April 19 to 21. → Read More
Breaking bad in the Middle East and North Africa: Drugs, militants, and human rights
The Middle East and North Africa are grappling with an intensifying drug problem—increased use, the spread of drug-related communicable diseases, and widening intersections between drug production and violent conflict. The repressive policies long-applied in the region have not prevented these worsening trends. → Read More
The global poaching vortex
As the world celebrates the World Wildlife Day on March 3, the planet is experiencing alarming levels of species loss—caused, in large part, by intensified poaching. Wildlife trafficking and its associated activities affect national and international security in a myriad of ways. → Read More
The global poaching vortex
As the world celebrates the World Wildlife Day on March 3, the planet is experiencing alarming levels of species loss—caused, in large part, by intensified poaching. Wildlife trafficking and its associated activities affect national and international security in a myriad of ways. → Read More
The skyscraper and the shack: What slum policy should not be about
Vanda Felbab-Brown writes that after decades of neglect, Latin American governments are increasingly focusing on urban slums, often out of a desire to counter violent criminality. But instead of being limited to the provision of alternative residences, policies to address slums need to be about inclusion, economic growth, safety, and connectivity of slums with the thriving city parts, and… → Read More
Drugs and drones: The crime empire strikes back
Organized crime actors have increasingly adopted advanced technologies, with law enforcement agencies adapting accordingly. However, the use of ever fancier-technology is only a part of the story. But the future lies as much behind as ahead, writes Vanda Felbab-Brown, with criminal groups now using primitive technologies and methods to counter the advanced technologies used by law enforcement. → Read More
Cuidado: The inescapable necessity of better law enforcement in Mexico
Major human rights violations related to drug violence, whether perpetrated by organized crime groups or military and police forces, persist in Mexico, writes Vanda Felbab-Brown. President Peña Nieto’s administration needs to establish more comprehensive law enforcement, she argues, one that goes beyond high-value targeting, extends state presence, develops socioeconomic anti-crime efforts, and… → Read More
Safe in the City: Urban spaces are the new frontier for international security
Major cities of the world will increasingly play a large role in the 21st century distribution of global power. More than ever, the state’s governing capacity and legitimacy will be shaped by how the state manages public security, suppresses insecurity and crime, and what kind of order it delivers in urban spaces. → Read More