| After most of the Spanish and Portuguese colonies won their independence at the beginning of the19th century in South America, new wars have been fought thereafter among these newly created nations to define their unstable borders, their power status and supremacy in the continent. During the cold war period and until its final decade, rivalry feelings still remained among most South American states being the most important the enmity between Argentina and Brazil.Argentina and Brazil are interesting cases among the South American emerging nations in their struggle for a balance of power in the Southern Cone and many factors have to be considered in order to understand this enmity; the boundaries disputes were not only an issue of territory expansions since both countries were not involved in direct wars between each other since1870, but also its importance is related to the balance of power in the region. Even when an armed conflict was evaded, the mutual threat perceptions were constantly present in the region, where both countries were immerse in a spiral effect of mutual misperception the possibility of war and the importance of military preparedness were constant themes in the regional order that strongly contrast with the security community concept later developed.All these logic of relationship concerning these2countries generated a rivalry relation and an enmity pattern that characterized the relation between them basically since decolonization period. Enmity patterns became deeper in the60’and70’were both countries even started with the development of nuclear projects increasing in that way the danger of an armed conflict between each other. As a result of this fact a security dilemma began to develop in southern region of South America.Nowadays, the regional order that used to exist in the Southern Cone until the middle80’s, where Argentina and Brazil were the epicenter of the hegemonic competition in the regional geopolitical domain and where persistent distrust, suspicion and historical rivalry were constantly presents, is no longer the region’s reality. By middle80’both countries political leaders changed the way that events were taking place by establishing closer relations, giving up nuclear projects, democratizing and starting a new era of economic relations where integration has a main role. A reshape in the regional security order has took place, and this thesis attempts to elucidate which are the reason behind the changes in the relationships between the two main countries in the Southern Cone. The previous rivalry culture that used to exist between both countries turned into a friendship relationship, and that is the result of a process in which many factors influenced.But what made the reshape in the regional order possible to give birth to another era in the relationship between old rival countries? What made that change in the mutual relations possible? Which circumstances allowed both countries to go from enmity to the establishment of amity patterns? Why that happened in that specific moment? What made the environment of the region turn from security dilemma towards security community?In this thesis we have been looking into the reasons that made that transformation possible and doing so we have found that the best explanation can be traced by using a domestic politics approach, taking into consideration domestic politics and the decision making process made by political leaders, we develop the idea that the international system is shaped by domestic concerns of each state. The main idea in the domestic politics approach comes from thinking that the international system is a collection of different individual decisions that become entangled and linked when those decisions reach and affect the international arena, and in that process the role of the political leaders and their choices is essential.Following Sung-Ju Cho theory,"Diversionary compliance occurs when leaders under domestic crisis send friendly gestures to the international community to obtain support by renouncing nuclear weapons (diversionary compliance) rather than going nuclear (diversionary war)" this thesis main argument is that political leaders in vulnerable position in Brazil and Argentina decided to divert people’s attention into external affairs shifting from security dilemma towards security community. Domestic factors of that time and interest in the main countries elite’s in the region explain the overcoming and transformation of the security dilemma since it end the security dilemma and starting a cooperative landscape was vital in order to achieve domestic wellbeing and therefore reassure the political leaders’ survival. The idea of Diversionary arises from the assumption that the political leaders have an ulterior motive of securing their jobs by complying with the international norms. The cases of Argentina and Brazil, despite the inherent characteristics of each country, show how in both countries the domestic crisis that the governments were facing and the desperate need of the political leaders to get it over made them to choose for a dramatic change in their external position. The internal crises were mainly in the economic sector, as the failure of domestic microeconomic policies, external constrains imposed by their foreign debts, trade deficit, lake of international trust, international marginalization, ISI (import substitution industrialization) model failure and the need to consolidate the neoliberal economic reforms.Consequently, the economic situation exposed the institutional crisis, political instability, absence of international credibility and coupled with weakness and challenges of the democratic transition. Governments also faced opposition from powerful domestic political groups due to the unpopularity of neoliberal measures application. So, starting a process of regional integration could be used as a justification for the implementation of neoliberal reforms, consolidating popular support for economic reforms.The instability and vulnerability of newly governments instituted led to a permanent threat of a dictatorship return, and the existence of rivalries or competition between both countries could justify the return of former dictatorships,Given this situation, two alternatives were presented in the ways to go regarding relations between the two countries, the first option supposed to continue the line of geopolitical rivalry that had been developed up to that time, and the second option emphasized the common need of overcome differences to define national policies and the subsequent bilateral relationship between the two countries. The cases show how political leaders under domestic crisis circumstances decided to choose the diversionary compliance path instead of going diversionary war, the choice was based on the need for international support in order to overcome the crisis they were facing, the support from US was vital in the case of Argentina to obtain the economic backing required to cope the crisis and in the Brazilian case the support from the regional countries was essential to counterbalance the US hegemony over the region. The international support had not been provided in the case that political leaders had opted for the diversionary war path.In order to secure and institutionalize their governments, the choice of ending the distrust and rivalry that characterized relations between both countries let them to obtain and consolidate specific economic reforms and democratization, the original goal of Alfonsin and Sarney had been to provide support for their fledgling democratic regimes by reducing domestic pressures increasing social and economic welfare through international cooperation. As a consequence of the regional Security Order reshape the creation of a Security Community in the region has took place, established around MERCOSUR members, where the security sphere has been structurally modified and where the security focus is now not looking inside the region any more but looking outside that sub region, security issues now are focused on north side of South America, terrorism, drugs, money laundering and still remaining boundaries disputes between some northern countries.Interdependence, integration, common values and high grade of institutionalization among members are essential for the development of a security community. Is in MERCOSUR sub region where security issues of traditional security agenda have been more clearly subordinated to new issues of cooperation and integration agenda, however, the regional institutions still suffer from permanent challenges coming from inside and outside the region that can imaginarily transport us to past situations.The paper is structured in the following manner:The first chapter contains a brief summary of the topic related background, a general definition of security dilemma concept and addressing specifically the security dilemma between Argentina and Brazil that is the thesis’ study object. The second chapter provides the backbone of the thesis since combines the literature review with the theoretical framework based on Domestic Politics approach towards international relations which jointly with the Diversionary Compliance Theory will elucidate the thesis main argument. In the third chapter is explained how domestic politics are related to the transition from security dilemma to security community, explained through the Argentinian case. The fourth chapter assets the Brazilian case, the Political leaders vulnerability:the economic, social, political, and military threats and how political leaders decision making was changing through the time. The fifth and last chapter is a review of the2main South American regional organizations specifically regarding to their security functions, and its central role in the construction course of a security community in the Southern region and the current challenges they are facing. |
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