The coexistence of peace and conflict in South America: toward a new conceptualization of types of peace

Abstract

South America's predominant democratic regimes and its increasing interdependence on regional trade have not precluded the emergence of militarized crises between Colombia and Venezuela or the revival of boundary claims between Chile and Peru. This way, how can we characterize a zone that, in spite of its flourishing democracy and dense economic ties, remain involved in territorial disputes for whose resolution the use of force has not yet been discarded? This article contends that existing classifications of zones of peace are not adequate to explain this unusual coexistence. Thus, its main purpose is to develop a new analytical category of regional peace for assessing this phenomenon: the hybrid peace. It aims to research the evolution of security systems in South America during the previous century and build a new, threefold classification of peace zones: negative peace zones, hybrid peace zones, and positive peace zones.

Taxonomy of interstate conflicts: is South America a peaceful region?

“…An international consensus on the literature argues that South America is an area marked by a 'long peace' (BATTAGLINO, 2008(BATTAGLINO, , 2012CENTENO, 2002;KACOWICZ, 1998;MARTÍN, 2006), in comparison with the magnitude of events that occurred in the twentieth century, such as the two world wars (1914-1918; 1939- Bolivia. Therefore, according to Centeno (2002, p. 37), it can be said that "the last two centuries have not seen the level of war that was common to other regions.…”

“…For a better understanding of the concept, see Battaglino (2012). 3 For an introduction to the topic, see Heye (2005).…”

“…The literature review was built from bibliographical research on the following: Battaglino (2012Battaglino ( , 2008, Centeno (2002), Child (1985), Kacowicz, (1998), Lopes (2013), Mares (2012Mares ( , 2001), Martín (2006Martín ( , 2002, Medeiros Filho (2011, Pieri (2011), Rudzit (2013), Saint-Pierre (2013, 2011 and Saint-Pierre and Palacios Jr.…”

O declínio: inserção internacional do Brasil (2011-2014)

“…O Conselho de Segurança e Defesa da Unasul obtém sucesso na implementação dessa agenda, mesmo durante o governo Rousseff, não sem dificuldades, especialmente ao conectar segurança regional com segurança internacional e tentar erguer a América do Sul como complexo de segurança. O êxito brasileiro está mais próximo do cinturão de segurança (Battaglino 2012; Nasser e Moraes 2014).…”

Explaining Defense Cooperation With Process-tracing: the Brazilian Proposal for the Creation of UNASUR South American Defense Council

“…Aligned with Saint-Pierre's (2006) diagnosis, Comini (2010) argues that the CDS is an important tool to generate greater independence from United States visions of security. Battaglino (2012) analyzes UNASUR as a conflict resolution institution. The author states that the classic triad involving democracy, trade, and institutions operates as a form of curbs if the disputes arise.…”