South American Regional Defense Integration and the Changing Security Architecture of a Continent

• In Event: Seguridad y geopolítica

Abstract

At the turn of the 21st Century, the security landscape of Latin American in general, but South America specifically, changed to reflect the ever evolving security concepts and defense dynamics found within the Western Hemisphere. The change in regional security dynamics is associated with the evolution of political and economic processes, mechanisms, and organizations. This contemporary change in regional security dynamics, influenced by the ever changing political-economic integration ideals of the region, has led to greater understanding by many decision makers that the only solvable method to manage the numerous issues (i.e. security threats) is through the use of unified and integrated regional approaches. However, as many states joined regional economic governing bodies and these regional economic governing bodies incorporated security and defense tenants within their organizational charters, many states have experienced a shift within their internal security structures and with the greater regional security architecture. The degree to which these regional economic governing bodies, which have integrated defense and security principles within their construct, influence and shape the regional defense structure and architecture of a Latin American sub-region is the focus of this research paper. This paper concentrates on UNASUR’s South America Defense Council and uses process tracing to understand how, if any effect a regional economic organization’s regional defense body has on the security architecture of a region.

Author

• Harvey A Schoonover, Florida International University