REGIONAL SECURITY: TOWARDS A REINFORCED COOPERATION?

Abstract

The creation of th South American Nations Union (UNASUR) the 23rd of May, 2008, and particularly the South American Defense Council in December 2008, reveals a transition between systems in the scenario of defense and regional security. In the mid of frustrating experiences, vacuums and uncertainty in those spheres of a myriad of integration processes with their own expressions in the areas of security and defense, shared regional agendas, that inform of dynamics and complex realities, the interamerican and regional security and defense system is migrating to a kind of flexible organization, that combines some elements of collective security (TIAR) with other mechanisms and elements oriented towards cooperation (including the figure of reinforced cooperation). There you can see, for example, the Mutual Confidence Measures, adopted at UNASUR, regarding the interchange of information about defense systems, manpower, weapons and equipment, that go beyond of the concepts developed in the hemisphere, getting closer to the measures fostered under the frame of the European Security and Cooperation Organization (OSCE). In spite of the promising meaning of the trend to find cooperative and flexible ways to face threats and the challenges under the perspective to consolidate a regional peace and security architecture, the results have never been the same as expected.