Peacekeeping and the armed forces of the southern cone : current trends and future prospects

Abstract

Heavy involvement in international peacekeeping has put a drain on U.S. and U.N. resources and the future ability to field effective U.N. peacekeeping forces is questionable. If Latin American countries were able to support future peacekeeping operations in their region, as they do internationally, this would provide relief to the United Nations and the United States. The purpose of this thesis is to determine what factors influence nations to participate in international peacekeeping and to predict whether participation in international peacekeeping will translate into successful regional peacekeeping. This thesis examines the involvement of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile in Peacekeeping Operations (PKO). The thesis begins with a theoretical framework for analyzing peacekeeping participation using three major factors that affect the likelihood of a country's involvement in peacekeeping: 1) civil- military relations, 2) foreign policy objectives, and 3) military budget and missions. Ultimately the thesis provides a model to predict which nations are likely to participate in international and regional peacekeeping missions in the future. The conclusions of this thesis will be valuable to policy makers forecasting and determining the likely composition of a future peacekeeping force in Latin America.