EDITORIAL NOTE
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18359/ries.1868

DRA. DIANA PATRICIA ARIAS HENAO
Editor
PhD in International Relations
revistafaries@unimilitar.edu.co

JULIÁN DARÍO BONILLA MONTENEGRO
Co-editor.
MA in Political Studies, MA in Analysis of Contemporaneous Political, Economical, and International Problems.
revistafaries@unimilitar.edu.co

In this current issue of the International Relations, Strategy, and Security Journal, the reader will find 11 research articles for reflection, organized in three thematic sections: 1) Global theoretical tendencies in the international system; 2) Regional security-oriented studies; and 3) Independent and subregional Latin American processes.

The research article to open this issue is No todo lo que brilla es oro: continuidades en el orden internacional y los límites a la reconfiguración del sur global (Not All That Glitters is Gold: Continuities in the International Order and Limits to the Reconfiguration of the Global South), by two Universidad Nacional de Rosario's PhD in International Relations, Esteban Actis y Julieta Zelicovich, researchers from the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research - CONICET. In the article, the process of transformations associated with the reconfiguration of the global south as well as the so-called democratization of internal relations process are analyzed, ones which since the middle of the twentieth century have not been altered at the level of redistribution of enonomical resources and legalpolitical framework. While there is a claim for the reformation of the system, the traditional potencies perpetuate asymmetries born in a strong interdependence between the weak and the powerful which does not kindly welcome emerging subjects.

Secondly, we find an article for reflection, written by Marina Malamud, Universidad de Buenos Aires' PhD in Social Sciencies and CONICET researcher, titled Papa Francisco, el cambio climático y el ecologismo de los pobres (Pope Francis, Climatic Change and the Environmentalism of the Poor) in which the social-environmental commitment of the Pope is highlighted, one that may mean a thematical balance in the world political agenda. His discourses and impact on the public opinion are qualitatively analyzed, and these can lead to an economical growth and protection of the Latin American region, particularly exposed to environmental consecuences.

Regarding the second thematic section, Regional security-oriented studies, research efforts from different regions can be found: Antarctica, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, and in their proposals they can contribute to the enhancement of the security stages through interventions in well differentiated but nevertheless relevant issues to human conflicts.

The reflection article Las necesidades mundiales de agua y la Antártida como reserva natural: ¿puede explotarse el agua antártica? (The Global Necessity for Water and Antarctica as Natural Reservoir: Can Antarctic Water be Exploited?), by Fernando Villamizar Lamus, PhD in Political Sciences and Sociology, Universidad Pontifica de Salamanca, who works as researcher in the Regional Peace and Security Observatory in the Universidad Bernardo O'Higgings as well as a School of Law professor in the Universidad de los Andes (Chile), portraits Antarctica as one of the biggest water reservoirs in the world. It presents a qualitative analysis of the way in which, by means of legal instruments, it is possible to exploit the vital water resources as ice, overcoming the prohibitions included in the Madrid Protocol. A long and difficult political path can be foreseen.

África, la nueva frontera estratégica en el desarrollo global: La geopolítica de Cabo Verde en el contexto de la CEDEAO (Africa, the New Strategical Frontier in Global Development: Cabo Verde's Geopolitics in the Context of the CEDEAO) is the research article written by the MA in Ethics and Philosophy, University of Cabo Verde, and researcher in the Local Development and Land-Use Regulation Research Center XXXXX. In it, the challenges faced by Cabo Verde since the firm of the Constitutive Treaty of Integration with the Economic Community of Western Africa States (CEDEDAO) are presented. Once state independence has been achieved and after mobilization in order to receive public help from Europe, the United States, and China, the article explores and interpretatively analyzes geostrategical issues and the implications of the international financial crisis affecting Cabo Verde's allies, proposing a geopolitical re-centralization of integration in Africa.

The article presented by Mariela Cuadro, PhD in International Affairs from Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), Coordinator and researcher in the Middle East Department from the UNLP International Affairs Institute, is called Las relaciones en el Golfo después de la "Primavera Árabe" y su impacto en la región (The Relations in the Gulf after the "Arab Spring" and its Impact on the Region) proposes that the dispute between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar concerning the regional role of some political groups associated with Islam - particularly the Muslim Brotherhood - and in the context of the post-"Arab Spring" contributed with the aggraviation and deepening of the different conflicts in the countries affected by these uprisings. The relative interventionism led to the resolution of conflicts by means of proxy wars.

Un análisis de la crisis en Ucrania y sus tres conflictos (An Analysis of the Crisis in Ukraine and its Three Conflicts) is the article presented by the MA in Military Sciences, Chilean Army Academy of War, and in Security and Defense, Chile's National Academy of Political and Strategical Studies, Cristian Faundes. It presents the consequences of the accuteness of the crisis experienced in Ukraine from November 2013 to May 2014. It identifies 293 events, evaluates them and quantitatively translates them, with relative curves expressing the intensity of the conflict that has embedded other diverse conflict still unresolved.

¿El Nuevo escondite de cucarachas? La expansión del crimen organizado mexicano en el triángulo norte de América Central (The New Hiding Place for Cockroaches? The Expansion of the Mexican Organized Crime in the North Triangle of Central America) is the article for reflection by Esteban Arratia, a MA and associated researcher in International Studies, Universidad de Santiago de Chile. The paper qualitatively analyzes the main factors in the relocation of criminal groups to the North Triangle of Central America, addressing connections and dynamics between the Mexican cartels and other criminal organizations operating in that subregion, as the transporters and the maras. Finally, it evaluates the feasibility of a strategical alliance between two of the most influential actors in the criminal scene of the zone: the Zetas and the Maea Salvatrucha.

The third and final thematical section includes processes developed in Latin America at the subregional and endogamous independent levels.

The authors of the research article El papel geopolítico de la Corte Internacional de Justicia en América del Sur: el caso Perú-Chile (2008-2014) [The Geopolitical Role of the International Court of Justice in South America: the Peru-Chile Case (2008-2014)], Diego Ignacio Jiménez Cabrera, MA in International Studies from the Universidad de Santiago and Karen Isabel Manzano Iturra, MA in Political Sciencies, Security, and Defense from the National Academy of Political and Strategical Studies, describe the way in which Chile and Peru have developed a new stage of tension in their international relations with each other after the verdict from the International Court of Justice, generating a lose-lose scenario in regards to the national interests of each sovereign state. Diplomacy failed as instrument for negotiating in good faith, and the incapacity for agreeing on conditions of geopolitical power accumulation and distribution in the Southern Cone. The Court then became a builder of new geopolitical narratives.

Actores no gubernamentales internos en la integración latinoamericana: participación de los empresarios industriales chilenos ante las iniciativas del gobierno de Eduardo Frei Montalva, 1964-1970 (Internal Non-Governmental Actors in the Latin American Integration: Participation of the Chilean Industrial Businesspeople in the Face of the Iniciatives of Eduardo Frei Montalva's Government, 1964-1970) is the research article from Javier Eduardo Recabarren Silva, MA in Latin American Social and Political Studies from the Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile, and researcher for the Center for Studies in International Relations in the Universidad del Desarrollo de Chile. In it, the participation of three important Chilean business entities which supported integration schemes in the framework of foreign affairs and governmental initiatives of Eduardo Frei Montalva's presidential term to enliven and deepen into the process of Latin American integration during the given time period is analyzed, compiling primary sources from the time and examining the importance of the contributions from non-governmental actors in relation with the foreign affairs policy of a country.

Then, the research article La aplicación de las tecnologías de información y comunicación en la prevención comunitaria del delito: Los casos de georreferenciación en Monterrey, México (The Implementation of ICT's in the Communitarian Crime Prevention: Georeferencing Cases in Monterrey, Mexico) receives the spotlight. Written by Jorge Francisco Aguirre, PhD in Philosophy and collaborator in the School of Research in Public Security, Universidad de Ciencias de la Seguridad del Estado de Nuevo León, Mexico, and assigned to the Institute of Social Research, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, the article discusses the advantages of Internet in the comunitarian prevention of crime and delictive georeferencing, proposing a theoretical framework related to communitarian, situational, and environmental prevention from the Mexican govern perspective. It does so qualitatively analyzing the use of the Web of webs in particular cases, offering assessment, reflection, and recommendations on the comparative basis of the Colombian National Police, the Chilean Carabineros Police, and the Salvadorian Civil National Police.

La identidad estratégica argentina y el ascenso de Brasil: las bases ideacionales de una política de defensa cooperativa (The Argentinian Strategical Identity and Brazil's Rising: the Ideational Basis of a Cooperative Defense Policy) is the article proposed by the PhD in International Relations from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Marina Gisela Vitelli, where the position of Argentina regarding counterpower strategies connected with the Brazilian political rising and its behavior in the South American Defense Council is analyzed, one which catapulted Brazil's regional leadership in the strategical-military dimension. It argues that the Argentinian cooperative defense policy is explained by virtue of the existence of a consensus among parliamentary actors who exerted influence since the return to democracy, producing in Argentina a political instability and the weakening of the political parties system.

Being grateful to the editorial staff, in particular to Colonel Jorge Isaza, to the distinguished members of the Editorial and Scientific Committees, and to the Editors' Coordinator, Dr. Juan María Cuevas Silva, we present the second issue for 2016 of the International Relations, Strategy, and Security Journal.