This article analyzes what the drivers of contestation of secondary powers vis-à-vis the regional... more This article analyzes what the drivers of contestation of secondary powers vis-à-vis the regional power are, differentiating therein between structural, historical, behavioural and domestic such drivers. We argue that in regions characterized by relative stability where major interstate violent conflicts are unlikely, as is the case in South America, secondary powers rely mainly on soft-balancing mechanisms vis-à-vis the regional power. Whereas Brazil’s foreign policy behaviour is key to South American secondary powers being induced to contest the country’s powerhood, the choices that the foreign policy elites of those secondary powers make regarding what the specific expression of soft balancing is to be are influenced by certain domestic groups. Empirical examples are given of how Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela as secondary powers unfold these domestic drivers, which shape their different ways of soft balancing Brazil. The article thus explains why some secondary powers rely more on institutional binding, others on economic statecraft, or buffering, while others contest by offering and building alternative leadership proposals.
Estudios Internacionales 170 (2011) - ISSN 0716-0240 • 105-127
Este artículo analiza la formación y el proceso sostenido de institucionalización formal e inform... more Este artículo analiza la formación y el proceso sostenido de institucionalización formal e informal de la unasur y su Consejo de Defensa mediante el discurso y la acción, conceptualizados como una comunidad de seguridad regional. Se establece que ambos se encuentran al comienzo de un estado «ascendente» y que la intención de los países líderes del grupo que los forma es crear un ente regional de tipo «riguroso». Paradójicamente, las crisis son lo que crea un proceso discursivo que impone la necesidad de profundizar la unasur y la convierten en un mecanismo de equilibrio institucional y de poder frente a grupos regionales como
la oea y países como los Estados Unidos.
International Area Studies Review 16(4) 370–389, Dec 15, 2013
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has positioned itself as a regional security organiz... more The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has positioned itself as a regional security organization aimed at reducing the influence of the Organization of American States (OAS) in South
America. At the same time, the OAS paradoxically serves as a model for UNASUR because of ist operational capacity and its legitimacy as a regional organization. This article analyzes the seemingly contradictory tendencies of replication and dissociation that UNASUR exhibits towards the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices. In the first part of the paper, we will draw on recent debates on international regime complexity to develop a framework to study institutional overlap. The second part analyzes to what extent and in which respects UNASUR, and particularly its Defense Council, overlaps with the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices, while the third part examines the causes of the emergence of a “competitor” for the OAS in South America.
This article assesses the possibilities for the development of foreign-policy role theory using t... more This article assesses the possibilities for the development of foreign-policy role theory using the concepts of traditions and dilemmas from the interpretive approach to foreign policy, as well as narratives as an interpretive method for analysis. While role theory is rich in conceptualization, it still suffers from overt structuralism, inattention to domestic processes of divergence/convergence affecting national roles, and from methodological underdevelopment. This article goes beyond studies of national role conceptions that present foreign-policy behavior as determined by the national role, thus making it possible to understand the interplay of competing voices in determining a national role, the processes of role change, and the resulting reorientation of foreign policy. This article illustrates the possibilities and limitations of merging role theory and the interpretive approach through the study of Chile's and Mexico's attempts to join the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), their accession to APEC, and their performance once accepted into APEC.
This article sets out how secondary powers in South America—that is, Argentina, Chile, and Venezu... more This article sets out how secondary powers in South America—that is, Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela—see Brazil as a regional power, as well as Brazil's strategy of using its regional powerhood to further its own ambitions of becoming a global power on the international stage. The article assesses the expectations of these three countries, specifically in terms of what kind of roles they attribute to Brazil. Following this empirical interest, the article develops a role theoretical framework for understanding the importance of Others' expectations for the role con-ception and enactment of the Self. The article also elaborates on the interplay of master roles and auxiliary roles in which Others become key shapers of those roles, as well as on how the role interaction between a regional power and the secondary powers is bound to their differing notions of “region,” as strategically used by each as part of their foreign policy.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has positioned itself as a regional security organiz... more The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has positioned itself as a regional security organization aimed at reducing the influence of the Organization of American States (OAS) in South America. At the same time, the OAS paradoxically serves as a model for UNASUR because of its operational capacity and its legitimacy as a regional organization. This article analyzes the seemingly contradictory tendencies of replication and dissociation that UNASUR exhibits towards the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices. In the first part of the paper, we will draw on recent debates on international regime complexity to develop a framework to study institutional overlap. The second part analyzes to what extent and in which respects UNASUR, and particularly its Defense Council, overlaps with the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices, while the third part examines the causes of the emergence of a "competitor" for the OAS in South America.
this article analyses the reasons for chile's aggressive Free trade agreement (Fta) policy. asses... more this article analyses the reasons for chile's aggressive Free trade agreement (Fta) policy. assessing both how the chilean government has converged with the export sector and how the government has been able to co-opt, soften and divide those on the losing side of any Fta policy, are key to understanding chile's vast number of Ftas. However, Ftas are also a constitutive part of a country's foreign policy, which converts these accords into a vehicle for the achievement of state goals dealing with economic issues and power configurations and expectations. it is the interplay between domestic groups' interests and the state's foreign policy goals that explain chile's rush to Ftas.
This article analyzes what the drivers of contestation of secondary powers vis-à-vis the regional... more This article analyzes what the drivers of contestation of secondary powers vis-à-vis the regional power are, differentiating therein between structural, historical, behavioural and domestic such drivers. We argue that in regions characterized by relative stability where major interstate violent conflicts are unlikely, as is the case in South America, secondary powers rely mainly on soft-balancing mechanisms vis-à-vis the regional power. Whereas Brazil’s foreign policy behaviour is key to South American secondary powers being induced to contest the country’s powerhood, the choices that the foreign policy elites of those secondary powers make regarding what the specific expression of soft balancing is to be are influenced by certain domestic groups. Empirical examples are given of how Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela as secondary powers unfold these domestic drivers, which shape their different ways of soft balancing Brazil. The article thus explains why some secondary powers rely more on institutional binding, others on economic statecraft, or buffering, while others contest by offering and building alternative leadership proposals.
Estudios Internacionales 170 (2011) - ISSN 0716-0240 • 105-127
Este artículo analiza la formación y el proceso sostenido de institucionalización formal e inform... more Este artículo analiza la formación y el proceso sostenido de institucionalización formal e informal de la unasur y su Consejo de Defensa mediante el discurso y la acción, conceptualizados como una comunidad de seguridad regional. Se establece que ambos se encuentran al comienzo de un estado «ascendente» y que la intención de los países líderes del grupo que los forma es crear un ente regional de tipo «riguroso». Paradójicamente, las crisis son lo que crea un proceso discursivo que impone la necesidad de profundizar la unasur y la convierten en un mecanismo de equilibrio institucional y de poder frente a grupos regionales como
la oea y países como los Estados Unidos.
International Area Studies Review 16(4) 370–389, Dec 15, 2013
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has positioned itself as a regional security organiz... more The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has positioned itself as a regional security organization aimed at reducing the influence of the Organization of American States (OAS) in South
America. At the same time, the OAS paradoxically serves as a model for UNASUR because of ist operational capacity and its legitimacy as a regional organization. This article analyzes the seemingly contradictory tendencies of replication and dissociation that UNASUR exhibits towards the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices. In the first part of the paper, we will draw on recent debates on international regime complexity to develop a framework to study institutional overlap. The second part analyzes to what extent and in which respects UNASUR, and particularly its Defense Council, overlaps with the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices, while the third part examines the causes of the emergence of a “competitor” for the OAS in South America.
This article assesses the possibilities for the development of foreign-policy role theory using t... more This article assesses the possibilities for the development of foreign-policy role theory using the concepts of traditions and dilemmas from the interpretive approach to foreign policy, as well as narratives as an interpretive method for analysis. While role theory is rich in conceptualization, it still suffers from overt structuralism, inattention to domestic processes of divergence/convergence affecting national roles, and from methodological underdevelopment. This article goes beyond studies of national role conceptions that present foreign-policy behavior as determined by the national role, thus making it possible to understand the interplay of competing voices in determining a national role, the processes of role change, and the resulting reorientation of foreign policy. This article illustrates the possibilities and limitations of merging role theory and the interpretive approach through the study of Chile's and Mexico's attempts to join the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), their accession to APEC, and their performance once accepted into APEC.
This article sets out how secondary powers in South America—that is, Argentina, Chile, and Venezu... more This article sets out how secondary powers in South America—that is, Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela—see Brazil as a regional power, as well as Brazil's strategy of using its regional powerhood to further its own ambitions of becoming a global power on the international stage. The article assesses the expectations of these three countries, specifically in terms of what kind of roles they attribute to Brazil. Following this empirical interest, the article develops a role theoretical framework for understanding the importance of Others' expectations for the role con-ception and enactment of the Self. The article also elaborates on the interplay of master roles and auxiliary roles in which Others become key shapers of those roles, as well as on how the role interaction between a regional power and the secondary powers is bound to their differing notions of “region,” as strategically used by each as part of their foreign policy.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has positioned itself as a regional security organiz... more The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has positioned itself as a regional security organization aimed at reducing the influence of the Organization of American States (OAS) in South America. At the same time, the OAS paradoxically serves as a model for UNASUR because of its operational capacity and its legitimacy as a regional organization. This article analyzes the seemingly contradictory tendencies of replication and dissociation that UNASUR exhibits towards the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices. In the first part of the paper, we will draw on recent debates on international regime complexity to develop a framework to study institutional overlap. The second part analyzes to what extent and in which respects UNASUR, and particularly its Defense Council, overlaps with the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices, while the third part examines the causes of the emergence of a "competitor" for the OAS in South America.
this article analyses the reasons for chile's aggressive Free trade agreement (Fta) policy. asses... more this article analyses the reasons for chile's aggressive Free trade agreement (Fta) policy. assessing both how the chilean government has converged with the export sector and how the government has been able to co-opt, soften and divide those on the losing side of any Fta policy, are key to understanding chile's vast number of Ftas. However, Ftas are also a constitutive part of a country's foreign policy, which converts these accords into a vehicle for the achievement of state goals dealing with economic issues and power configurations and expectations. it is the interplay between domestic groups' interests and the state's foreign policy goals that explain chile's rush to Ftas.
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Papers by Leslie Wehner
la oea y países como los Estados Unidos.
America. At the same time, the OAS paradoxically serves as a model for UNASUR because of ist operational capacity and its legitimacy as a regional organization. This article analyzes the seemingly contradictory tendencies of replication and dissociation that UNASUR exhibits towards the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices. In the first part of the paper, we will draw on recent debates on international regime complexity to develop a framework to study institutional overlap. The second part analyzes to what extent and in which respects UNASUR, and particularly its Defense Council, overlaps with the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices, while the third part examines the causes of the emergence of a “competitor” for the OAS in South America.
la oea y países como los Estados Unidos.
America. At the same time, the OAS paradoxically serves as a model for UNASUR because of ist operational capacity and its legitimacy as a regional organization. This article analyzes the seemingly contradictory tendencies of replication and dissociation that UNASUR exhibits towards the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices. In the first part of the paper, we will draw on recent debates on international regime complexity to develop a framework to study institutional overlap. The second part analyzes to what extent and in which respects UNASUR, and particularly its Defense Council, overlaps with the OAS in terms of security conceptions and practices, while the third part examines the causes of the emergence of a “competitor” for the OAS in South America.