Strategic culture and regional security governance: the agency of regional secondary powers in the creation of the South American Defence Council

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Dalponte, Bruno (2019). Strategic culture and regional security governance: the agency of regional secondary powers in the creation of the South American Defence Council. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates the roles Argentina, Chile, and Colombia played in the creation of the South American Defence Council (SADC), resorting to the conceptual framework of Strategic Culture to tap into the meanings and motives behind state behaviour. By doing this, it brings forward an aspect often neglected by the existing literature, emphasizing the role of agents in shaping the social structure within which they interact.
The SADC, one of the first sectorial councils created within the Union of South American States (UNASUR, in Spanish), is an innovative governance mechanism in South America devoted to fostering dialogue, policy coordination, and cooperation in the defence sector. The significance of its creation cannot be overstated, bringing together a dozen countries with diverse security and defence concerns, material capabilities, ideational commitments, and diverging political agendas. However, the existing research on its creation has almost exclusively resorted to (sub)systemic approaches that examine structural incentives and constrains present at the moment of its creation.
The argument of this thesis is that, in order to understand regional security dynamics in a more nuanced and comprehensive way, it is necessary to escape the temptation of approaching the topic exclusively from a regional-level perspective. Instead, the present research proposes a way by which the creation of the SADC can be studied in terms of the impact that the agency of individual states has had in shaping the South American security environment. In order to do this, it engages with different elements of the constructivist research agenda, particularly so with the notion that agents and structures are permanently immersed in a process of mutual co-constitution.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):