The Chile - Argentina bilateral relationship from 1973 until 1989: The trans-Andean security dilemma and bilateral cooperation between two authoritarian regimes

This thesis examines the tense dynamics of trust and hatred within Latin America and looks into the involvement of the United States in its military and economic support for rightist governments in Latin America. It starts with an analysis of the bilateral relations, the regional integration and the authoritarian state. Following is an extensive examination of the development of regional integration in Latin America, the threat of Communism and authoritarian responses to it. The authoritarian regimes threatened the social lives of millions of Latin American people and allowed a military regime to maintain the domestic economic and political structure according to the objective of the authoritarian leader and the military junta, which was centred around the eradication of Communism. Within Latin America, regional integration caused bilateral and multilateral successes and failures and conflicts. The high quantity of natural resources in several countries such as Venezuela, Brazil and...Show moreThis thesis examines the tense dynamics of trust and hatred within Latin America and looks into the involvement of the United States in its military and economic support for rightist governments in Latin America. It starts with an analysis of the bilateral relations, the regional integration and the authoritarian state. Following is an extensive examination of the development of regional integration in Latin America, the threat of Communism and authoritarian responses to it. The authoritarian regimes threatened the social lives of millions of Latin American people and allowed a military regime to maintain the domestic economic and political structure according to the objective of the authoritarian leader and the military junta, which was centred around the eradication of Communism. Within Latin America, regional integration caused bilateral and multilateral successes and failures and conflicts. The high quantity of natural resources in several countries such as Venezuela, Brazil and Chile for example, provides the opportunity to maintain relations with other countries in the international system and to increase foreign investments. However, geographical factors limited bilateral relations in various countries in Latin America and territory remains a crucial factor in the analysis of bilateral relations within the region. The final chapter scrutinizes the bilateral relation between Chile and Argentina in the years from Pinochet’s coup d’état in 1973 until his successor Aylwin took over presidency in 1989. These 17 years are divided in two time periods. The first period goes from 1973 until 1983, a period in which military diplomacy acted out by both countries symbolized territorial conflicts, but where both countries’ governments and secret services cooperated to protect their countries against Communism in Operation Condor. The second period starts with the Peace and Friendship Treaty in 1984 in which it seemed like conflicts softened, and where the democratic transition in Argentina contributed to the lowering of the long-lasting binational security dilemma between Chile and Argentina. Hence, this thesis identifies the major factors that have been contributing to and have been restraining the bilateral relation between Chile and Argentina. The contextualization is characterized by military responses to the threat of Communism within both countries, territorial interventions in the Southern Cone of Latin America and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1984 which fostered the incentives for bilateral integration and economic cooperation between Chile and Argentina.Show less

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The Chile - Argentina bilateral relationship from 1973 until 1989: The trans-Andean security dilemma and bilateral cooperation between two authoritarian regimes