Challenges and opportunities in the Americas: A liberal regime for security and defense cooperation

The theoretical underpinning of this dissertation is liberalism, as applied to the Western Hemisphere. A major assertion is that the liberal peace rule holds true in the Americas. States are not contemplating warfare with their regional neighbors. Likewise, the external security dilemma is now replaced with an internal security dilemma of state collapse. Even so, liberalism is insufficient to explain how states interact under democracy and capitalism. To assume that security, trade, defense, and investment are maintained simply by having free political and economic systems is naive because domestic and transnational non-state actors threaten states today.; The dissertation argues that a new form of liberal hegemony is needed to preserve and expand free governments and markets in the region. Unfortunately, power is usually more associated with realism, so liberals must find ways to make power serve democratic ends. The United States must recognize that it is no longer the sole leader within the region. In order to maintain its influence it must share power under a regional order with a number of other states that are seen as legitimate co-leaders. Case studies show that Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, and Mexico are well suited to join this emerging leadership group.; This dissertation asserts that regions have an important role to play in preserving and extending liberal values that aid in keeping the peace, both internally and externally, and extending economic opportunity. Yet, in order for this to occur, much change must occur within the Organization of American States (OAS). The problem is that OAS record in the security and defense realm is poor. In cases cited---Colombia, Haiti, and the Peru-Ecuador conflict---the OAS played no significant role. Traditionally, hemispheric states have shunned the OAS as an actor in the security and defense realm, preferring to use subregional arrangements or bypassing it in favor of the UN. This dissertation strongly argues for the creation of a Security Council and standing multinational forces---all with rules that respect state sovereignty and enforce strategic restraint---within the OAS to preserve democracy, thus making this regional organization relevant and legitimate.