Suchergebnisse

If the idea of an integrated Latin America goes back to the early post-colonial days, the story of political and economic integration in Latin America is relatively quickly told. The attempts have been numerous, but in terms of policy outcomes and deep integration for the benefit of a regional public good, regionalism in Latin America has not lived up to the stated aims of its governments. The present paper takes a first step to examine the practice of referring to Latin America in the political discourse, a phenomenon that we term declaratory regionalism to denote its independence from substantial forms of regionalism. We analyse the use of declarationism in presidential speeches delivered on an annual basis to the UN General Assembly in two steps. First, we discuss a series of descriptive illustrations in light of existing scholarship on Latin American international relations. Subsequently, several hypotheses for why governments keep referring to the region while not necessarily privileging it in their foreign policy strategies are put to a test. While not offering a conclusive explanation, the results point to leftist ideology as a crucial factor in explaining the persistence of discursive regionalism at the UN General Assembly. The paper posits that future research is likely to benefit from conceiving Latin Americanism as a characteristic of leftist ideology.

This article examines recent interest in hedging as a feature of international politics in the Asia Pacific. Focusing on the small states of Southeast Asia, we argue that dominant understandings of hedging are misguided for two reasons. Despite significant advances in the literature, hedging has remained a vague concept rendering it a residual category of foreign policy behavior. Moreover, current accounts of hedging tend to overstate the strategic intentions of ostensible hedgers. This article proposes that a better understanding of Southeast Asia's foreign policy behavior needs to dissociate hedging from neorealist concepts of international politics. Instead, we locate the concept in the context of classical realism and the diplomatic practice of second-tier states. Exploring Southeast Asia's engagement with more powerful actors from this perspective reveals the strategic limitations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the dilemma that Southeast Asian states face from a rising China challenging the status quo in the western Pacific.

In 2000, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security recognized an urgent need to mainstream a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations in order to achieve gender equality. UN member states have been called upon to implement the Resolution through National Action Plans. Almost two decades after its adoption, research indicates that progress towards the goals set in Resolution 1325 has been slow. This article builds on the case of the Chilean military to assess whether and to what extent a gender perspective has been incorporated into the country's peacekeeping practice. We argue that gender stereotypes have persisted despite Chile's status as a regional pioneer in promoting gender equality in its defence policy. Paradoxically, the new opportunities peacekeeping offered for women in the military have been legitimized by a discourse that conforms to traditional gender stereotypes, such that women serve as the 'peaceful and friendly face' in peacekeeping.

Peacekeeping has widely been seen as conducive to submit the military to democratic rule. We put the assumption to an empirical test based on the case of Uruguay, today a fully democratic state that has consistently ranked among the world's top peacekeeping contributors per capita. Specifically, we ask whether participation in peacekeeping has increased civilian control over the military. To answer this question, we focus on three aspects of democratic civil–military relations: civilian oversight, civilian policy management, and armed forces–society relations. We conclude that peacekeeping has done little to trigger greater involvement of civilians in the area of military and defense policy but that it contributed to reduce the gap between the armed forces and society. Nevertheless, due to political neglect by civilian authorities, the state of civil–military relations is one of subordinate military autonomy short of ideal, even if it does not represent a threat to democratic rule.

AbstractDefence diplomacy represents a notable paradox. On the one hand, it is a cooperative activity to build strategic and moralistic trust between states and thus positively shape the environment in which foreign policy is made. On the other hand, defence diplomacy also involves competition and demonstrations of military power, which may contravene its goal of building moralistic trust and undermine confidence between states. This article deals with the latter competitive realpolitik elements of defence diplomacy in terms of secrecy, swaggering, and shows of force that have largely been ignored in the literature. Building on a theoretical discussion of whether defence diplomacy works, the case of peacekeeping in Southeast Asia is analysed to illustrate how defence diplomatic activities produce effects contrary to their stated aims.

Peacekeeping has widely been seen as conducive to submit the military to democratic rule. We put the assumption to an empirical test based on the case of Uruguay, today a fully democratic state that has consistently ranked among the world's top peacekeeping contributors per capita. Specifically, we ask whether participation in peacekeeping has increased civilian control over the military. To answer this question, we focus on three aspects of democratic civil–military relations: civilian oversight, civilian policy management, and armed forces–society relations. We conclude that peacekeeping has done little to trigger greater involvement of civilians in the area of military and defense policy but that it contributed to reduce the gap between the armed forces and society. Nevertheless, due to political neglect by civilian authorities, the state of civil–military relations is one of subordinate military autonomy short of ideal, even if it does not represent a threat to democratic rule.

La integración regional en América Latina presenta una contradicción notable. Mientras que la retórica de los actores promueve avances en los procesos regionales, los hechos muestran resultados e instituciones mucho más débiles de lo que esa retórica sustenta. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo esclarecer empíricamente esta brecha, basado en el caso de Chile. A este fin empleamos una serie de indicadores que buscan captar el compromiso declarado con la integración, por un lado, y los esfuerzos y avances reales, por otro. El artículo contribuye a la literatura sobre el regionalismo latinoamericano con un aporte empírico, destacando algunos matices en la brecha entre los discursos y los hechos.

Regional integration in Latin America presents a notorious contradiction. On the one hand, there is a long-standing commitment to regional integration, but on the other hand, regional institutions and their political output are far less impressive than such rhetoric suggests. This article seeks to illustrate the gap empirically based on the example of Chile. We draw on a range of different indicators that seek to capture both the declared commitment to integration and real efforts and advances. The article adds to the literature on Latin American regionalism with an empirical contribution highlighting some nuances in the gap between integrationist discourses and reality. ; La integración regional en América Latina presenta una contradicción notable. Mientras que la retórica de los actores promueve avances en los procesos regionales, los hechos muestran resultados e instituciones mucho más débiles de lo que esa retórica sustenta. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo esclarecer empíricamente esta brecha, basado en el caso de Chile. A este fin empleamos una serie de indicadores que buscan captar el compromiso declarado con la integración, por un lado, y los esfuerzos y avances reales, por otro. El artículo contribuye a la literatura sobre el regionalismo latinoamericano con un aporte empírico, destacando algunos matices en la brecha entre los discursos y los hechos.