Abstract

MENDEZ-COTO, Marco Vinicio. SECURITY PRACTICES IN AMERICA DURING THE POST-COLD WAR (1992-2010): REGIONAL COMPLEXES OR PLURALISTIC SECURITY COMMUNITIES?. rev.relac.int.estrateg.segur. [online]. 2017, vol.12, n.1, pp.75-102. ISSN 1909-3063.  https://doi.org/10.18359/ries.2465.

The new security regionalism in America during the post-Cold War period has failed to offer enough comparative empirical evidence in order to determine the presence of Regional Security Complexes (RSC) or Pluralistic Security Communities (PSC). In the face of this issue, this study intends to answer, to what extent do security practices prevailing in the continent during the post-Cold War (1992-2010) allow the differentiation between RSC and CPS at the regional and sub-regional level? Security practices were analyzed taking into account two indicators: militarized inter-state disputes by means of descriptive statistics and econometric models, and the persistence of the hypothesis of conflict in defense programmatic instruments through content analysis. The conclusion is that the most appropriate approach is offered by RSC due to the persistence of the threat and the use of force as security practice. The primacy of the American agenda in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean implies the presence of a RSC centered on its power projection and worldwide influence, while in South America there is a standard RSC. At the sub-regional level, Central American and the Andean zone constitute sub-complexes, whereas in the Southern extreme of the continent the occurrence is that of a pluralistic community.

Keywords : America; militarized inter-state disputes; international security.

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