Abstract
This chapter unfolds the Falklands and Antarctica issues from an Argentinian perspective, which considers both areas as the same geopolitical bloc. It reveals that the Argentinian approach to South Atlantic is equivalent to Geoffrey Till’s modern states definition. It regards the Malvinas and Antarctica as core resources of national interest and power. Given the asymmetric conditions of naval capabilities in relation to the UK, Argentina conducts a long-term soft-balancing strategy and makes constant regional and domestic mobilisations regarding the issue.
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Notes
- 1.
Argentina, Ley n° 24.815, de 20 de Mayo de 1997 de Creación de la Comisión Nacional del Límite Exterior de la Plataforma Continental. Buenos Aires, 1997, http://www.plataformaargentina.gov.ar/userfiles/userfiles/ley-24815-1997.pdf, accessed 10/1/2017.
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Convenção das Nações Unidas Sobre Direito Do Mar – CNUDM, Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre o Direito do Mar. Parte VI – Plataforma Continental – Artigo 76 – Definição de Plataforma Continental. Montegobay, 1982, https://www.egn.mar.mil.br/arquivos/cursos/csup/CNUDM.pdf, accessed 20/1/2017.
- 3.
J. M. de. Souza, ‘Mar territorial, Zona Econômica Exclusiva ou Plataforma Continental?’ Revista Brasileira de Geofísica, São Paulo, 17, no. 1 (1999): 79–82.
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Geoffrey Till, Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century, 3rd edition (New York: Routledge, 2013).
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Sergio Caplan and Sergio Eissa, Análisis Estratégico del Sistema Malvinas, Antártida y Atlántico Sur. Documentos de Trabajo n° 28 del Ministério de Defensa, Buenos Aires, no. 1, pp. 1–18, February 2015, http://www.edena.mindef.gob.ar/docs/DOCN28.pdf, accessed 18/1/2017.
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Antarctic Treaty. Paris: International Council for Science, 1 December 1959, http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto/1970-1979/D75963.htm, accessed 18/9/2017.
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Ibid.
- 8.
Jete Jane Fiorati, A Disciplina Jurídica dos Espaços Marítimos na Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre Direito do Mar de 1982 e na Jurisprudência Internacional (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Renovar, 1999), vol. 1.
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Argentina 2009, Argentina Submission Documents to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, http://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_arg_25_2009.htm, accessed 18/9/2017.
- 10.
Despite the legal norms mentioned, compliance is often insufficient. The Argentine population, in general terms, is quite uninformed with respect to the origins of the territorial dispute, the existing geopolitical interests, and the Argentinian Antarctic policy. The latter, of great international recognition, is not a matter of day-to-day dissemination by state bodies or the great mass media. During the last years, different Argentine intellectuals began to spread pro-British ideas in different media through interviews, radio notes, and columns in newspapers, ignoring the national interests and the basic norms of the International Law. This generated a broad debate at the political and social level, since the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was making extensive efforts to spread the claim of Argentine sovereignty over the archipelagos of the South Atlantic. These ‘intellectuals’ contributed to the disinformation of the Argentine society, spreading fallacies and trying to colonise the common sense of the Argentinians. Nowadays, the neoliberal government of Mauricio Macri does so by directly using the tools of the state, being rejected by a great part of the society that understands that it is a serious fault to the national and popular interests.
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Argentina, Pampa Azul. Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Ciência, Tecnología e Inovação Produtiva, 2014, http://www.mincyt.gob.ar/accion/pampa-azul-9926, accessed 18/9/2017.
- 12.
Author’s translation. The original name is ‘Agujero Azul’.
- 13.
Julian Corbett, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy (New York: Dover Publications, 2004).
- 14.
Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre Direito do Mar – CNUDM, Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre o Direito do Mar. Montegobay, 1982, https://www.egn.mar.mil.br/arquivos/cursos/csup/CNUDM.pdf, accessed 20/1/2017.
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Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf – CLCS. Outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines: submissions to the 102 Commission: Submission by the Argentine Republic [S.l.], 15 February 2013, http://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_arg_25_2009.htm, accessed 16/1/2017.
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Argentina, Ley n° 24.815 20 de Mayo de 1997de Creación de la Comisión Nacional del Límite Exterior de la Plataforma Continental. Buenos Aires, 1997, http://www.plataformaargentina.gov.ar/userfiles/userfiles/ley-24815-1997.pdf, accessed 10/1/2017.
- 17.
Information available at: http://www.equilibriointernacional.com/2011/08/por-que-son-estrategicas-las-islas.html, accessed 23/2/2017.
- 18.
The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources is an international agreement adopted at the Conference on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources held in Canberra, Australia from May 7 to 20, 1980. This agreement represents the multilateral response to address the possibility that increased catches of unregulated krill in the Antarctic Ocean were ultimately detrimental to the Antarctic marine ecosystem, especially for species of seabirds, seals, whales, and fish whose staple food is krill.
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John B. Hattendorf, ‘What is a Maritime Strategy?’ Soundings Paper, Canberra, no. 1, October 2013, https://www.navy.gov.au/spc/sites/default/files/publicationdocuments/Soundings%201%20-%20Hattendorf%20-%20What%20is%20a%20Maritime%20Strategy.pdf, accessed 8/5/2017.
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Andrew Chuter, ‘UK Seeks to Update Malvinas Air Defense’, Defense News, 24 March 2015, https://www.defensenews.com/air/2015/03/24/uk-seeks-to-update-Malvinas-air-defense/, accessed 22/9/2017.
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United Kingdom, National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015: A Secure and Prosperous United Kingdom. Prime Minister’s Office, London, 2015, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/555607/2015_Strategic_Defence_and_Security_Review.pdf, accessed 24/9/2017.
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Ibid.
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Redacción, ‘Reino Unido anuncia más de US$250 millones para reforzar la defensa de las Malvinas/Falklands’, BBC MUNDO [London, UK], 17 February 2016, http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/02/160217_malvinas_falklands_defensa_gasto_fallon_mz, accessed 11/2/2017.
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Sarrasague Santiago Martínez, ‘Los Kirchner y las Malvinas’, La Nacion (Buenos Aires, AR), 17 February 2010, http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1234282-los-kirchner-y-las-malvinas, accessed 12/3/2017.
- 25.
Jorge Ibarra Rodríguez, ‘La Plataforma Continental extendida o ampliada’, Revista de Marina, Santiago de Chile, no. 957 (2017): 6–11, http://revistamarina.cl/revistas/2017/2/jibarrar.pdf, accessed 24/9/2017.
- 26.
Harriet Alexander, ‘Without Chile’s Help, We Would Have Lost the Falklands’, The Telegraph (London), 7 July 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/falklandislands/10947350/Without-Chiles-help-we-would-have-lost-the-Falklands.html 24/03/2017, accessed 12/3/2017.
- 27.
L. W. Martin, El mar en la estrategia moderna (Buenos Aires: Armada Nacional, 1999).
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Treaty of Rio de La Plata and Maritime Front, 19 November 1973. Montevideo: Law School of Republic University, http://wold.fder.edu.uy/idipu/documentos/tratado-del-rio-de-la-plata.pdf, accessed 24/9/2017.
- 29.
Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf – CLCS, Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf Beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Baselines: Submissions to the Commission: Submission by the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, 14 April 2011, http://www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/submissions_files/submission_ury_21_2009.htm, accessed 16/1/2017.
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M. Raquel Ippoliti Ferraz, ‘Convención de Naciones Unidas sobre el Derecho del Mar de 1982’. Presentación de Uruguay ante la Comisión de Límites de la Plataforma Continental, Revista de la Facultad de Derecho, Montevideo, vol. 1, no. 29 (2010): 199–216.
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Elis Alves Penha, Os mecanismos de segurança regional no Atlântico Sul: da Guerra Fria ao Período Atual. Idéias em Destaque, Rio de Janeiro, vol. 4 (2010): 151–166, http://reservaer.com.br/estrategicos/sistemas-seg-regional.html, accessed 4/12/2015.
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Gonzalez, R.M., Caplan, S.G. (2019). The Expansion of Argentine Limits in the Continental Shelf: Implications in the International Scope. In: Duarte, É., Correia de Barros, M. (eds) Navies and Maritime Policies in the South Atlantic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10600-3_4
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