Determinants of Foreign Policy in Latin America: A Comparative Historical Analysis of the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela

• In Event: Innovations in foreign policy analysis

Abstract

In this work, I analyze the main explanatory conditions for the change in foreign policy in five Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela), based on the comparative historical method (CHM). This method allowed the identification, hierarchyzation and understanding of the relations between the main determinants for changes in the general orientation of the foreign policy of these states. For this i make a process tracing of recent periods (after the 2000s) of the foreign policy of the five countries, it has been found that changes in their policies depends on the confluence of causal factors, which are neither necessary nor suficiente, but INUS. The main found INUS conditions are (1) internal/domestic: (a) changes in president´s preferences, (b) ideologies of the parties that come to power (general orientation) and (c) (material capabilities); and (2) external: (d) the relative distribution of regional power (polarities), (e) are part of regional integration and / or cooperation processes (polarizations) and (f) the relationships with major powers outside the region with revisionist potential, like China. The differentiation among this cases is made by the relative weight of each conditions and what are the main factors which that together are sufficient for such changes.

Author

• Júlio C Rodriguez, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM)