http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7114-3146
![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Authorities at the United Nations have repeatedly called on regional organizations to step up their commitment in the area of peacekeeping. These calls are based on Chapter VIII of the UN Charter, which gives regional organizations a role in international peace and security. While organizations in Europe and Africa have created regional peacekeeping arrangements, such have failed to emerge in Latin America. This is puzzling, for different reasons. On the one hand, several countries have recently sought to increase their peacekeeping profile. States have strong incentives to pool their resources, especially if they face budgetary constraints such as the developing countries of Latin America. On the other hand, peacekeeping might provide an answer to some of the security problems the region faces. This article provides an evaluation of how Latin America has responded to the global demand to develop regional peacekeeping capacities. I argue that cooperation in peacekeeping has mainly been the result of foreign policy considerations rather than a concern for peacekeeping per se. In light of past experiences of shallow institutionalization, the article concludes with a reflection on the future prospects for a Latin American peacekeeping framework.
Acknowledgements
I thank Malte Brosig, Christoph Harig, Tom Legler and Sabine Kurtenbach for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article. I am also grateful for research assistance by Camila Bertranou and for constructive and detailed critiques provided by three anonymous reviewers.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
About the Author
Nicole Jenne is an Assistant Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Institute of Political Science, and an associate researcher at the Centre for International Studies (CEA-UC) of the same university. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the European University Institute. Her research interests are in the areas of International Relations and international security, especially regional security. She specializes on inter-state conflict, the role of the military and international cooperation in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
ORCID
Nicole Jenne http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7114-3146
Notes
1 Job, “The UN, Regional Organizations, and Regional Conflict.”
2 Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council, 2010–2011, available at https://www.un.org/en/sc/repertoire/2010-2011/Part%20I/2010-2011_Cooperation%20UN-RO.pdf.
4 Kacowicz, Zones of Peace.
5 Martín, Militarist Peace; Mares, “Latin America.”
6 Hartzell, “Relative Peace,” 187.
7 UCDP, Uppsala Conflict Data Program.
8 Vilalta, Castillo, and Torres, Violent Crime, 8.
9 Erickson, “Latin America.”
10 Vilalta, Castillo, and Torres, Violent Crime.
11 Muggah and Aguirre, Citizen Security in Latin America.
12 Hirst, La Intervención Sudamericana En Haití; Kenkel, “Stepping out of the Shadow.”
13 BRICS, 9th BRICS Summit.
14 This definition builds on Bellamy and Williams, Understanding Peacekeeping, 18; and Griffin, “Retrenchment, Reform and Regionalization,” 7–11.
15 Richmond, “UN Peace Operations.”
16 Sotomayor, “Latin America’s Increased Role.”
17 Diehl and Balas, Peace Operations, 48. Since 1988, 58 new missions were created (see UN Peacekeeping, List of Peacekeeping Operations).
18 Diehl and Balas, Peace Operations, 48.
19 Child, “Peacekeeping and the Inter-American System,” 43.
20 Hirst and Mattar Nasser, Brazil’s Involvement, 2.
21 United Nations, Peacekeeping.
22 Sotomayor, “Latin America’s Increased Role,” 186.
23 Buxton, “Swimming against the Tide,” 73.
24 Shemella, “The Spectrum of Roles and Missions,” 125.
25 Uruguay, Bases Para Una Política de Defensa Nacional, chapters VII and IX.
26 Uruguay, Política Militar de Defensa, 25, I.3.
27 Sotomayor, Peacekeeping Contributor Profile: Uruguay.
28 Argentina, Libro Blanco de La Defensa, VII.3; Argentina, Libro Blanco de La República Argentina.
29 Brazil, Defense White Paper.
30 Chile, Libro de La Defensa Nacional, 2002.
31 See for instance Peru, Libro Blanco de La Defensa Nacional, 113.
32 Schreuer, “Regionalism v. Universalism.”
33 Wilcox, “Regionalism and the United Nations,” 790.
34 Dabène, The Politics of Regional Integration.
35 Schreuer, “Regionalism v. Universalism,” 482.
36 Sotomayor, “Latin America’s Experience with Peace Support Operations,” 331.
37 OAS, Electoral Observation Missions and Recommendations Database.
38 Lowenthal, “The United States and Latin America,” 204.
39 See for instance Shaw, Cooperation, Conflict and Consensus, 123.
40 Child, “Peacekeeping and the Inter-American System,” 45.
41 Forti, La Defensa y Los Recursos Naturales En Sudamérica.
42 Argentina, Libro Blanco de La Defensa.
43 Battaglino, “The Determinants of Arms Spending in South America,” 87.
44 Argentina, Libro Blanco de La República Argentina.
45 Chile, Libro de La Defensa Nacional, 1997.
46 Chile, Libro de La Defensa Nacional, 2010.
47 Brazil, National Strategy of Defense, 19.
48 Brazil, Defense White Paper, 35.
49 Hirst and Mattar Nasser, Brazil’s Involvement, 2.
50 Uruguay, Política de Defensa Nacional, 12.
51 Interview with Luis Doñas, Department of Cooperation, Treaties and International Agreements, Undersecretary of Defence of Chile, Santiago, 18 January 2018.
52 Ibid.
53 Interview with Claudio Ramón, then head of CECOPAZ, Asunción, 31 July 2017.
54 Interview with Roberto Gil de Vargas, Head of Planning and Strategic Evaluation of MINUSTAH 2013-2014, Montevideo, 14 July 2018.
55 Kacowicz, The Impact of Norms; Hurrell, “Security in Latin America”; Herz, “Concepts of Security.”
56 Herz, “Concepts of Security.”
57 Muggah, “Stabilising Fragile States.”
58 Herz, “Concepts of Security,” 604–7; Hurrell, “Security in Latin America,” 541.
59 Sotomayor, “Latin America’s Experience with Peace Support Operations,” 329.
60 Dabène, The Politics of Regional Integration, 21.
61 Llenderrozas, Argentina, Brasil y Chile en la Reconstrucción de Haití.
62 Interview with Ricardo Lagos, Santiago, 5 March 2018.
63 Ibid.
64 Diniz, “Brazil,” 102.
65 See Kenkel, “South America’s Emerging Power.”
66 Diamint, “From Fear to Humanitarianism,” 141.
67 Sotomayor, “Why Some States Participate in UN Peace Missions While Others Do Not,” 184.
68 Sotomayor, The Myth of the Democratic Peacekeeper, 64.
69 González Guyer, “Punching Above Its Weight,” 122.
70 Llenderrozas, Argentina, Brasil y Chile en la Reconstrucción de Haití.
71 UNASUR, Solidaridad de UNASUR con Haití.
72 See Sievers and Daws, The Procedure of the UN Security Council, 149. I thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing out the relevance of this mechanism.
73 Marcondes de Souza Neto, “Regional Defense Integration,” 67.
74 Marcondes de Souza Neto, “Regional Defense Integration”; Diamint, El ‘2×9’.
75 Feldmann and Montes, “Learning to Be Likeminded,” 157.
76 Cheyre, “UNPKO and the Latin American Experience,” 159.
77 Argentina, Libro Blanco de La Defensa.
78 Mendelson Forman, “Latin American Peacekeeping.”
79 Tokatlián, Intervención en Haití, 2.
80 Univisión Noticias, “Santos Formaliza ante la ONU Petición.”
81 El Heraldo, “Samper Sugiere Fuerza de Paz Suramericana.”
82 Phone interview with José Bayardi, 28 November 2018. Bayardi was a member of the commission that dealt with ending the conflict, including a lasting ceasefire and disarmament, representing Uruguay as the President pro-tempore of UNASUR.
83 Interview with Luis Maira, representative of Chile in the role of companion to the peace talks during 2014-2016, Santiago, 3 December 2018.
84 Phone interview with Luis Doñas, Department of Cooperation, Treaties and International Agreements, Undersecretary of Defence of Chile, 27 November 2018.
85 Feldmann et al., “Lost in Translation,” 2.
86 Schreuer, “Regionalism v. Universalism,” 494.
87 Autesserre, Peaceland.
88 de Coning, “Peace Enforcement in Africa,” 145–46.