Ivan Briscoe is the Programme Director of Latin America and the Carribean at the International Crisis Group. A specialist in the political economy of fragile and developing countries, as well as the connections between organised crime and politics, he has carried out fieldwork and written reports on numerous countries in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. For over a decade he also worked as a journalist and editor in Argentina, France, and Spain, and continues to write regular columns for The Buenos Aires Herald and openDemocracy.