Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

The Zone of Violent Peace

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Power Dynamics and Regional Security in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter argues that, in contrast to widely held beliefs, militarized behaviour has not been eliminated from the Latin American region and is actually incentivized by the way in which diplomats and scholars approach the security issues facing the region. To substantiate these claims, the first section looks at the empirical record of militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) between Latin American states and demonstrates that the region is not especially peaceful. The second section discusses the causal logic of MID occurrence. The third section examines why the contemporary situation in Latin America does not dissuade militarization but continues to encourage it, particularly via a ‘moral hazard’ mechanism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Militarized incidents between states do not include accidental cross-border crossings by military that are not protested by the country whose territory has been violated, nor military violence against criminals/illegal migrants who cross into countries and are attacked by the forces there, unless that home country protests.

  2. 2.

    Comparing the interstate wars and MID databases clearly indicates that very few MIDs worldwide lead to war.

  3. 3.

    Information on the specific incidents that were coded as militarized is found in Militarized Interstate Incident Data, Version 4.0, which can be downloaded from the same page as the MID dataset (see MID 2015).

  4. 4.

    A fuller discussion can be found in my book (Mares 2001).

  5. 5.

    A moral hazard results when a party is endowed with an ‘insurance policy’ that diminishes the risks of a particular activity to a point at which the party perceives such risks to be low enough to engage in the activity; insurance providers seek to minimize moral hazard by excluding such activities from coverage or charging a premium that raises the cost to the insured to a point that dissuades such behaviour.

  6. 6.

    For a full discussion of the options, see Mares 2012b, c).

  7. 7.

    My updating of the MID database to 2015 is not yet complete but has occurrences between Nicaragua-Costa Rica, Nicaragua-Colombia, Venezuela-Colombia, Venezuela-Guyana, Dominican Republic-Haiti, and Chile-Peru.

  8. 8.

    Battaglino (2012) argues that democracies that trade with each other and develop regional institutions are the root of South America’s ‘hybrid peace’ in the north and ‘positive peace’ in the south. But, as the Polity IV data demonstrate, many South American democracies do not fulfil the requirements for the democratic peace argument that he references. In terms of trade, the willingness of Venezuela to significantly disrupt the trade, of Bolivia to not sell gas to Chile, and of Argentina to renounce its contracts to supply gas to Chile all indicate that it is not credible to believe that a disruption of trade is a major deterrent to the possibility of militarized conflict. Nor does he address the significant weaknesses of regional institutions that limit their ability to perform the functions expected in the arguments postulating the peace-enhancing attributes of security institutions.

References

  • ABC. 2011. El Paraguay quiere vivir en paz con sus vecinos. 14 May. http://www.abc.com.py/articulos/el-paraguay-quiere-vivir-en-paz-con-sus-vecinos-258069.html. Accessed 16 November 2015.

  • Adler, Emmanuel, and Michael Barnett. 1998. A Framework for the Study of Security Communities. In Security Communities, ed. Emmanuel Adler and Michael Barnett, 29–65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Alexandroff, Alan, and Richard Rosecrance. 1977. Deterrence in 1939. World Politics 29(3): 404–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angus Reid Global Monitor. 2008. Colombia, Ecuador Assess Cross-border Incursion. Global Monitor, Polls & Research (poll conducted by Centro Nacional de Consultoría and Cedatos-Gallup, released by CM, 9 March 2008). http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/30098/colombia_ecuador_assess_cross_border_incursion. Accessed 2 April 2008.

  • Battaglino, Jorge M. 2012. The Coexistence of Peace and Conflict in South America: Toward a New Conceptualization of Types of Peace. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional 55(2): 131–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bloomberg. 2008. Chavez’s Threats, Commodities Boom Converge to Fuel Arms Race. Bloomberg.com, 7 April. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a3J3JJ6v3wJQ. Accessed 16 November 2015.

  • Clifton, Morgan, T., and Kenneth Bickers. 1992. Domestic Discontent and the External Use of Force. Journal of Conflict Resolution 36: 25–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • COW. 2015. Correlates of War Dataset. http://www.correlatesofwar.org/. Accessed 10 November 2015.

  • Cox, Gary. 1997. Making Votes Count. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Crescenzi, Mark J. 2003. Economic Exit, Interdependence, and Conflict. The Journal of Politics 65(3): 809–832.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, Michael W. 1997. Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs. In Debating the Democratic Peace, ed. Michael E. Brown, Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ercolani, Steve. 2012. Nicaragua Defies International Court, Says Costa Rican Minister. Tico Times. 1 October. http://www.ticotimes.net/2012/10/01/nicaragua-defies-international-court-says-costa-rican-minister. Accessed 31 October 2012.

  • Franko, Patrice. 1994. De facto Demilitarization: Budget-Driven Downsizing in Latin America. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 36(1): 37–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gagne, David. 2015 The Siren Call of Militarization in Latin America. InSight Crime, 19 August. http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/explaining-appeal-militarization-latin-america. Accessed 15 November 2015.

  • Gartzke, Erik. 1999. War is in the Error Term. International Organization 53(3): 567–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • George, Alexander L., and Richard Smoke. 1974. Deterrence in American Foreign Policy. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grabendorff, Wolf. 1994. Interstate Conflict Behavior and Regional Potential for Conflict in Latin America. In Latin America’s International Relations and Their Domestic Consequences: War and Peace, Dependence and Autonomy, ed. Jorge I. Dominguez. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurrell, Andrew. 1998. An emerging security community in South America? In Security Communities, ed. Emmanuel Adler and Michael Barnett, 228–264. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Illingworth, Erica. 2015. Colombia, Peace at Last? Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 19 February. http://www.coha.org/colombia-peace-at-last/. Accessed 16 November 2015.

  • Ishmael, Odeen. 2015. Guyana-Venezuela: The ‘controversy’ over the arbitral award of 1899. Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 11 September. http://www.coha.org/guyana-venezuela-the-controversy-over-the-arbitral-award-of-1899/. Accessed 11 September 2015.

  • Jones, Daniel M., Stuart A. Bremer, and J. David Singer. 1996. Militarized Interstate Disputes, 1816–1992: Rationale, Coding Rules, and Empirical Patterns. Conflict Management and Peace Science 15(2): 163–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kacowicz, Arie M. 1998. Zones of Peace in the Third World: South America and West Africa in Comparative Perspective. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kacowicz, Arie M. 2000. Geopolitics and Territorial Issues: Relevance for South America. Geopolitics 5(1): 81–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lijphart, Arendt. 1984. Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-one Countries. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malamud Rikles, Carlos. 2010. El Consejo Suramericano de Defensa: Entre grandes expectativas y una realidad compleja y fraccionada. In La Creación de Unasur en el Marco de la Seguridad y la Defensa, Ministerio De Defensa, 58–67. Madrid: Ministerio de Defensa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansfield, Edward, and Jack Snyder. 1995. Democratization and the Danger of War. International Security 20(1): 5–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maoz, Zeev, and Bruce Russett. 1993. Normative and Structural Causes of Democratic Peace. American Political Science Review 87: 624–638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mares, David R. 1996/1997. Deterrence Bargaining in the Ecuador-Peru Enduring Rivalry: Designing Strategies Around Military Weakness. Security Studies 6(2): 91–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mares, David R. 2001. Violent Peace: Militarized Interstate Bargaining in Latin America. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mares, David R. 2011. Intra-Latin American Relations: The Challenge of Promoting Cooperation While Defending Sovereignty. In Handbook of Latin American Politics, ed. Peter Kingstone and Deborah Yashar, New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mares, David R. 2012a. Latin America and the Illusion of Peace. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mares, David R. 2012b. Constructing Real Peace and Security in Latin America: Minimizing the ‘Moral Hazard’ Character of Security Institutions. Pensamiento Propio 36/37: 157–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mares, David R. 2012c. Por que os latino-americanos continuam a se ameaçarem: O uso da força militar nas relações intra latino-americanas. Varia Historia 28(48): 599–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mares, David R, and David Scott Palmer. 2012. Institutions, Power, and Leadership in War and Peace: Lessons from Peru and Ecuador, 1995–1998. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martins, Sebastião. 2011. Paraguay. 13 February. http://www.pulsamerica.co.uk/2011/02/14/paraguay-this-week-11/. Accessed 20 February 2011.

  • MercoPress. 2011. Argentina denies any ‘war hypothesis’ with Uruguay over controversial pulp mill. 13 October. http://en.mercopress.com/2011/10/13/argentina-denies-any-war-hypothesis-with-uruguay-over-controversial-pulp-mill. Accessed 16 November 2015.

  • MID. 2015. Militarized Interstate Disputes (version 4.1). http://www.correlatesofwar.org/data-sets/MIDs. Accessed 3 November 2015.

  • Mitchell, Sara McLaughlin, and Brandon C Prins. 1999. Beyond Territorial Contiguity: Issues at Stake in Democratic Militarized Interstate Disputes. International Studies Quarterly 43(1): 169–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oelsner, Andrea. 2016. Pluralistic Security Communities in Latin America. In The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Security, ed. David R. Mares and Arie M. Kacowicz, 173–184. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul, T.V. 2004. Asymmetric Conflicts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pion-Berlin, David, and Harold Trinkunas. 2010. Civilian Praetorianism and Military Shirking during Constitutional Crises in Latin America. Comparative Politics 42(4): 395–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polity, IV. 2015. Polity IV Annual Time-Series, 1800–2014. http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscrdata.html. Accessed 15 November 2015

  • Quackenbush, Stephen L., and Jerome F. Venteicher. 2008. Settlements, Outcomes, and the Recurrence of Conflict. Journal of Peace Research 45(6): 723–742.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarkees, Meredith Reid, and Frank Wayman. eds. 2010. Resort to War: A data guide to inter-State, extra-State, intra-State, and non-State wars, 1816–2007. Washington: CQ Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Serbin, Andrés. 2010. Regionalismo y soberanía nacional en América Latina: Los nuevos desafíos. Nueva Sociedad 42(3): 70–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Serbin, Andrés, and Andrei Serbin Pont. 2016. Cooperative Security and Regional Governance. In The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Security, ed. David R. Mares and Arie M. Kacowicz, 127–137. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thies, Cameron. 2016. Traditional Security: War and Peace. In The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Security, ed. David R. Mares and Arie M. Kacowicz, 113–126. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tovar, Daniel A. 2015. Colombia and Venezuela: The Border Dispute over the Gulf. Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 13 August. http://www.coha.org/colombia-and-venezuela-the-border-dispute-over-the-gulf/. Accessed 30 August 2015

  • Trinkunas, Harold. 2013. Reordering Regional Security in Latin America. Journal of International Affairs 66(2): 83–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tusicisny, Andrej. 2007. Security Communities and their Values: Taking Masses Seriously. International Political Science Review 28(4): 425–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varas, Augusto, Claudio Fuentes, and Felipe Agüero. 2008. Instituciones cautivas: Opinión pública y nueva legitimidad social de las Fuerzas Armadas. Santiago de Chile: FLACSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Väyrynen, Raimo. 2000. Stable Peace through Security Communities? Steps towards Theory-building. In Stable Peace among Nations, ed. Arie M. Kacowicz, Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, Ole Elgström, and Magnus Jerneck, 108–129. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, Matthew. 2008. Chavez Goes Weapons Shopping in Russia Amid Arms Race (Update2). Bloomberg.com, July 21. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aLF7tPXrBVYE&refer=home. Accessed 6 March 2014.

  • Wiegand, Krista E., and Emilia Justynia Powell. 2011. Unexpected Companions: Bilateral Cooperation between States Involved in Territorial Disputes. Conflict Management and Peace Science 28(3): 209–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zibechi, Raúl. 2009. Is Brazil Creating Its Own ‘Backyard’? Americas Program, Center for International Policy, 3 February. http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/1621. Accessed 14 April 2016.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, San Diego, USA

    David R. Mares

Authors
  1. David R. Mares
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David R. Mares .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fluminense Federal University, Niterói, Brazil

    Marcial A.G. Suarez

  2. University of São Paulo , São Paulo, Brazil

    Rafael Duarte Villa

  3. University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Brigitte Weiffen

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mares, D.R. (2017). The Zone of Violent Peace. In: Suarez, M., Villa, R., Weiffen, B. (eds) Power Dynamics and Regional Security in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57382-7_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation