FOREIGN POLICY AND DEFENSE POLICY. AN UNFRIENDLY NEARNESS

Abstract

Foreign policy and defense policy are the main instruments any State has in hands in order to get a position in the international system. This requires by itself a close coordination and liaison between both of them. At the same time, both policies are fed by similar elements such as history, geography, the domestic political processes, and both should be treated and formulated as state policies. Parallel to defense policy, in foreign policy there are elements of strategic nature such as compatibility between military and diplomatic interests of the state, the military power and the political influence, as well as the contribution of the diplomacy to the execution of the military acquisition policies. All of this, should tell us that coordination and liaison between both policies is an easy and natural matter, but, on the contrary, the real situation is far from that. Moreover, because of their same nature, foreign and defense policies are difficult to coordinate and align adequately. The same is valid with respect to the agencies that have to define and apply those policies, the secretaries or ministries. There are two levels of coordination between both policies: the primary level that requires for certain basic assumptions and the advanced level, that implies the definition of the great national strategy.

This issue is applicable in its origin to Chile, since their defense and foreign policies traditionally had followed separate courses and even conflictive ones. This situation was rather acceptable and reasonable in the past, but is not longer more, and must be corrected urgently.