DEFENSE POLICY MODELS IN LATIN AMERICA

Abstract

To what extent do the defense policies of Latin American countries differ? Is it possible to conceptualize them? The objective of this article is to investigate and conceptualize the defense policies that Latin American countries have carried out based on their relationship with the United States of America (USA) since the end of the Cold War. The work constitutes an exploratory investigation of the defense policies of Latin American countries based on a qualitative methodology with indirect quantitative contributions. The research takes four indicators typical of defense studies and suggests that their different combination shows the different ways in which the USA has been included by the countries of the region in their defense policies. The article concludes that it is possible to identify five models of national defense in Latin America.