Tw o West s aft er 11- S?
Jorge M a ur o V e ga / M á x im o M iccinilli
Aft er t he im passe of relat ive st abilit y and professed m ult ilat eralism
raised in t he Post - Cold War, t he Twin Towers’ fall sh aped t he
con-solidation of a deep change in US foreign policy pillars, t hat now
fo-cuses it s effort s on high policy - t he nat ional secu rit y sphere - m
en-aced not only by m at erial capacit ies of st at e act ors but by new
t hreat s of t ransnat ional nat ure, above all, t he wide dim ension of I
n-t ernan-t ion al Terrorism .
Th e 2002 St rat egy of Nat ional Securit y ( US NSS02) officially su pport s
such change of percept ions and obt ains su ccessfu lly t he securit izat ion
of I nt ernat ional Terrorism t hrough t he fam ous “ War on Terrorism ” , in
which t he m ilit ary inst rum ent , t oget her wit h unilat eral, preven t ive
act ions and t he so- called m ult ilat eralism á la cart e (Rojas Arav ena,
200 4), were t he m et hods chosen t o face it .
Such a Copernican Tu rn produced a deep im pact not only on t he
sa-m e inst it ut ionalit y of t he int ern at ional syst esa-m raised aft er 1 945
(Uni-t ed Na(Uni-t ions), bu(Uni-t on (Uni-t he his(Uni-t oric A(Uni-t lan(Uni-t ic Alliance i(Uni-t self, in which we
could affirm t he exist ence of t wo West s and one Europe, an d not one
West and t wo Europes as it was during t he iron curt ain ( Moisi, 2003) .
Th e West ern agreem ent t h at prevailed im m ediat ely aft er 9- 11
ev ent s, t hanks to t he joint exercise of t he right of self- defense in
Afghanist an, rapidly collapsed due t o t he exist ence of different
con-cept ions of valid st rat egies t o face t he t errorist t hreat . Europe
consi-dered t error as a cit izen securit y ( Escobar; Muniz; Sanseviero; Sain;
Zacchi, 2005) issue and, as a consequence, inst rum ent s t o be used
are not m ilit ary act ions ( as t he US st rat egy support ed), but effect ive
in form at ion exchange and penal and police m ult ilat eral assist ance.
Aft er I raq’s int ervent ion (2 003) and George Bush’s re- elect ion
Ponen cias - Pági na 2 de 22
of it s Nat ional Securit y St rat egy (US NSS06) . Making em phasis on
t he belic cont ext t hat is goin g t hrough and securing t he bases for t he
fut ure peace, t he Bush Adm inist rat ion m akes clear it s will for m
oul-ding t he world under t h e form at of t he known dem ocrat ic peace and
free m arket prem ises. So, big point s are: Will t he US NSS06 im ply
cont inuit y regarding t he evident breaking- off bet ween t he Unit ed St
a-t es and a-t he European Un ion?; Whaa-t will be a-t he consequence of ia-t s
ap-plicat ion in a Lat in Am erica wit h low st at e inst it u tionalit y, left ist
go-vern m ent speeches and alarm ing povert y index es and incom e dist
ri-bu t ion?; What will be t he dest iny of At lant ic inst it ut ion s for securit y
an d defense cooperat ion?.
Result ing from t hese inspiring quest ions, t he essay has been divided
in t hree part s: t he st art ing point focuses on t he securit izat ion process
of t he t h ree m ain act ors of t he t ransat lant ic area: US, EU and Lat in
Am erica. The descript ion of t his rigorous and subj ect ive process is
followed by the evaluat ion of US NSS02’s im plem ent at ion an d t he
cont rast feat ures/ approaches associat ed t o t he US NSS06. Finally,
t he conclu sion is com plet ely based on previous point s in order to
fo-recast short / m edium term t rends in t he EU and Lat in Am erica as a
result of t he im plem ent at ion of t he US’ refreshed nat ional securit y
doct rine.
Th eoric Fram ework: 11- S im pact in Securit y St udies
Th e end of t he Cold War set s t he grounds for a general overview of
in t ernational security st udies in t wo cent ral aspect s ( Der Ghou
gas-sian, 2004: 12): (1 ) t he t raditional cent ralit y on war, on the m ilit ary
in st rum ent and on t he securit y of t he st at e as t he obj ect of discipline;
On t he one hand, from a realist board gam e, fram ed by t he securit y
dilem m a and wit h act ors exclusively of st at e n at ure, we m ove t o t he
in corporat ion in t he agenda of t he so called new t hreat s of t
ransna-t ion al naransna-t ure and asym m eransna-t ric use of sransna-t rengransna-t h (Barransna-t olom é, 2004: 12);
t o t he im port ance of th e concept of Hu m an Securit y (UNDP, 1994) ,
which erect s individual’s fundam ent al libert ies as t he obj ect t o
de-fend; and t o t he design of ways t o guarant ee securit y differen t from
t he convent ional m ilit ary in st rum ent , being a clear sign of t his idea
t he concept of Cooperat ive Securit y ( Faya, 1997: 2 4).
Aft er 11- S , t he cen t ral issue in secu rit y st udies’ debat e relies on t he
dichot om y t hat exist s bet ween t he securit y of t he st at e and t hat of
t he indiv iduals, which m ain ly result s from t he st rong t en dency t hat
t he Bush Doct rine shows t o support the first opt ion ( Rosas, 2 002: 7) .
I n t his way, t he am bivalent subst ance and com ponent of int ernat ion al
t errorism as a t hreat has divided the percept ion s and pract ical
consi-derat ions of m any act ors of th e t ran sat lant ic zon e.
On t he ot her hand, in reference to t he second pillar of t he m ent ioned
academ ic reviews in securit y st u dies, it is necessary t o point out t hat
t he paper will be em bedded on t he regional securit y com plex school
t heory ( Buzan, Waever, de Wilde, 1998: 26) t hat conceiv es t he
secu-rit y as a m ove which t akes polit ics beyond t he est ablished rules of
t he gam e, an d fram es t he issu e as a special kind of polit ics. I n fact ,
t he securit izat ion process can t hus be seen as a m ore ex t rem e
ver-sion of polit izat ion by which t he Danish sch ool used t o classify a sort
of pu blic policy spect ru m (Buzan; Weaver; de Wilde, 1998) :
I n t heory, any pu blic issue can be locat ed on t he spect rum ranging
from non- polit icized ( m eaning t he st at e does n ot deal wit h it an d it is
not in any ot her way m ade an issue of public debat e and decision)
t hrough polit icized (m eaning t he issue is part of pu blic policy,
Ponen cias - Pági na 4 de 22
som e ot her form of com m unal governance) t o securit ized ( m ean ing
t he issue is present ed as an existent ial t hreat requiring em ergency
m easures and j ust ify ing act ions out side t he norm al bounds of polit ical
procedure) .
Th e Process of Securit izat ion in t he Transat lant ic Area aft er t he 11-S
Th e U.S.: A war on t error
Th e US gov ernm ent has present ed a renewed Nat ional Securit y St
ra-t egy by which ira-t s cenra-t ralira-t y rem ains consra-t anra-t : ra-t he securira-t izara-tion of ra-t he
“ rise of t errorism fuelled by an aggressive ideology” (US NSS, 2006:
I nt roduct ion) associat ed t o weapons of m ass dest ruct ion and failing
st at es. The part icular fact is that t he ext ension of t he t hreat is larger,
reaching not only t he Am erican values, but a m enace for t he so called
“ New Era of Global econom ic growt h t hrough free m arket s and free
t rade” ( US NSS, 2006: 25) .
At t he sam e t im e, by affirm ing t he great success of US NSS06’s
ap-plicat ion ( above all Afghanist an and I raq’s m ilit ary cam paign), Am
eri-ca’s will is t o keep on “ leading” t he world t owards an expan sion of
dem ocracy worldwide t hrough “ full array of polit ical, econom ic,
di-plom at ic, and ot her t ools” ( US NSS, 2006: 6) at t heir disposal. I
nde-ed, t he sensit ive point regarding prevent ive at t acks has been
confir-m ed as follows on t he WMD’s prevent ion chapt er: “ To forest all or
prev ent such h ost ile act s by our adversaries, t h e Un it ed St at es will, if
necessary, act pre- em pt ively in ex ercising our in herent right of
self-defense” ( US NSS, 2006: 18) .
Th is security approach out lines t he con solidat ion of t errorism as an
ex ist ent ial t hreat requiring em ergency m easures and j ust ifying
im port ant legislat ive body [ The US House of Represent at ives has
in-t roduced “ urgenin-t ly” in-t he followin g acin-t s: in-t he Public Safein-t y and Cyber
Securit y Act of 2001, t he Pat riot Act ( 2001) , t he Unit ing and St rengt
-hening Am erica Act ( 2001) and t h e Financial Ant i- Terrorism Act
( 2001) ] , a huge increase in defence bu dget [ According t o t he St
oc-kh olm I nt ernat ion al Peace Research I nst it ut e ( SI PRI ), t h e US spent
US$ 478.2 billions on defen se during 2 005, which represent s t he 48%
of t he worldwide defense expendit ures in t he sam e field. UK and
Fran ce follow t he Unit ed St at es wit h 48,3 billions and 46,2 billons
( bot h in dollars) respect ively. More inform at ion available at :
< ht t p: / / yearbook 2006.sipri.org/ > ] , and t he reorganizat ion of t he
Arm y as well as federal agen cies t o underm ine t he th reat .
Alt hou gh it is recognised t he prim ary role t hat global t errorism plays
for t he concept ion of warfare in Washingt on, it is also highlight ed t hat
m any “ gov ernm ent s at fragile st ages of polit ical developm ent ” com
-m anded by “ de-m agogues peddling an ant i- free -m arket aut horit
aria-nism ” ( known by radical neo populism ) [ vid. Un Suj et o Polít ico No
I dent ificado. 20 04, in Le Monde Diplom at ique ( Spanish Version)] ,
illegal im m igrat ion flows and I slam ic fundam ent alism are also seen as
concret e m enaces t o US nat ional secu rit y . Nat urally, t he int roduct ion
of a wide level of t hreat s does not im pede in short t erm s t hat t he
go-vern m ent could st ick t he m aj or t hreat ( int ernat ional t errorism ) t o t he
in creasing m obilit y of aliens in t h e US or t o t he ant i- liberal policies of
Arabic or Lat in- Am erican leaders.
Th e m ain point is t hat t he st rat egy tu rns out t o present an
over-ex t ended flover-exible dim ension of a pot ent ial/ real t hreat t hat could be
m anaged and defined different ly according t o leader’s int erest and
polit ical cont ext .
Ponen cias - Pági na 6 de 22
First ly, t he EU as a polit ical ent it y did not have any 9- 11 at t ack
be-cause neit her Madrid (2 004) nor London ( 2005) t errorist bom bings
could be seriously com pared t o the Twin Towers’ collapse in t he US.
I ndeed, for a long t im e Europeans’ experien ce wit h t errorism has
been linked t o t he form of car bom bs an d booby- t rapped t rash cans,
which is t he sam e, t errorism is not seen as an occasion for war but as
a crim e problem . That is why European aut horit ies are far from
laun-ching a US st y le preven t ive war on t errorism , m obilizing m ilit ary
corps, est ablishing det en t ion cent res and redesigning adm inist rat ive
bu reaucracy regarding count er-t errorism .
I n t urn, t he EU Com m ission is m uch m ore int erest ed in re-launching
t he Lisbon St rat egy ( 2005) by which securit izes t he European sust
ai-nable growt h (social m odel, pension coverage and em ploym ent ) and
leaves t o nat ional com pet ences t o decide wh et her t o reach a wider
agreem ent against t errorism or creat e sub groups of int ergovernm
en-t al cooperaen-t ion.
I n reference t o a large scale agreem ent of t he 25 m em bers t o
coun-t er- arrescoun-t incoun-t ernacoun-t ional coun-t errorism , coun-t he m oscoun-t relevancoun-t scoun-t ep was coun-t o
crea-t e a com m on defence research and crea-t echnology fun d aim ed acrea-t n
arro-wing t he gap bet ween t he US and Europe in high- t ech m ilit ary
equipm ent . This gap rem ains huge as num bers clearly illust rat es: 1)
St at ic Defen se Budget s [ Twent y five EU coun t ries spend rough ly 175
billion Eu ros collect iv ely on defense, which is not an insignificant
am ount of m oney. I n fact , t he EU’s is t he biggest defense spender
aft er t he US. Alt hough t he EU spends about t he half of what t he US
spends on defense, Europeans do not get near t h e half of US m ilit ary
capabilit y (Keohane, 2004) . Moreov er, wit hout new equipm ent ,
Euro-pean soldiers m ight not even m ake it t o t he bat t lefield. To illust rat e,
European t roops needed US planes t o t ak e t hem t o Macedonia in
200 1 because m ost of European arm ies do not have adequat e t
hand, four count ries concent rat e alm ost t he 75 % of t h e EU defense
spendin g, UK and France ( 45% ), and Germ any and I t aly ( 30% ) . On
t he ot her hand, European spending on m ilit ary power is t he half of
t he US. Am ericans spend close t o six t im es what EU nat ions do in m
i-lit ary R&D; 2) I n adequat e spending and sav ings on equipm ent t o
pu sh pooled- operat ions t o save m oney and im prove int eroperabilit y
am ong arm ies; harm onizing act ivit y cycles and t rainings; 3)
Frag-m ent at ion of t he European defense Frag-m ark et . The six Frag-m ain European
arm s-producing count ries signed t h e so called Let t er of I nt en t in 1998
t o harm onize som e of t heir arm am ent s regulat ion, but it has not yet
had im pact at all.
By cont rary, if we t ake a look at t he int ergovernm ent al cooperat ion
st yle, Balladur helps us t o define t he process of cleavage ent re deux
concept ions de l’ Europe ( Balladur, 2 006) t hat cert ainly separat es one
part of t he Eu ropeans wh ich support s t he com m on currency and a
st ronger polit ical union ( Pro EU Const it ut ional Text ) , from t he ot her
part of t he EU club t hat welcom es t he sole evolut ion of t he single
m arket ( Pro Europe of Nat ions) , rest raining pot ent ial polit ical am
bi-t ion s. I n bi-t his way , bi-t his sbi-t ru cbi-t ural cleavage has been working as a
re-sult of prerogat ives and goals est ablished by t h e Treat y of Maast richt
du ring t he 90s.
I nt ernat ional t errorism as a global t hreat in t he EU im posed a dom
es-t ic fissure ( in levels of naes-t ional preferences) opening a new era of
cleavages: six governm ent s gave green light t o st ep up coordinat ion
of th eir securit y services t o enhance t he int egrat ion of im m igrant s
in to t he block as well as t o fight t errorism . The G6 Group (Spain, I t
a-ly , UK, France, Germ any and Poland) chose t he int ergovernm ent al
cooperat ion inst ead of a com m on Eu ropean approach of t he 25 m em
-bers. Th is sort of m echanism st ill illust rat es how st rong t he classical
Ponen cias - Pági na 8 de 22
of a com m on ground t o count er- arrest t errorism t hrough t he EU- 25
agenda.
Lat in Am erica: Dem ocracy in t he eye of t he st orm
While 9- 11 event s were t aking place, t he General Assem bly of t he
Organizat ion of t he Am erican St at es ( OAS) , in special session,
enac-t ed enac-t h e I nenac-t er-Am erican Dem ocraenac-t ic Charenac-t er, docum enenac-t enac-t haenac-t lay enac-t he
foun dat ions t o consider dem ocracy as the obj ect whose preservat ion
is essent ial in order to m aint ain regional st abilit y and securit y.
Far from t ransit ion processes to dem ocracy [ vid. O’Donnell; Schm it
-t er, 1988 ] -t ha-t por-t ray ed -t he 1980s, La-t in Am erica is -t oday going
t hrough a deep crisis of dem ocrat ic governance ( Cam ou, 2001) , a
consequence of t he incapacit y of dom est ic polit ical syst em s t o
ad-dress different dem ands of society , which are principally about t he
alarm ing reversion of povert y indexes [ According t o ECLAC, povert y
has im pact ed on 220 m illion people in Lat in Am erica wh ich im plies
t hat alm ost half of t he ent ire populat ion ( 43,4% ) is considered poor.
See m ore inform at ion at : < ht t p: / / w ww . eclac.cl> ] , a hist orical
regres-sive incom e dist ribut ion [ According t o t he Report t it led “ Desigualdad
en Am érica Lat ina y el Caribe: ¿rupt ura con la hist oria?” (2 003),
pu-blished by t he World Bank, t he richest -one t ent h ( 1/ 10 ) of t he Lat
in-Am erican populat ion concent rat es t he 4 8% of t he overall incom e,
while t he poorest t ent h reaches only t he 1,6% ] , an d t he ex ist ing
in-creasin g levels of social unrest and v iolence (m ainly urban) [
Accor-ding t o st at ist ics provided by t he World Bank, by 2004, t h e hom icide
in dex in Lat in Am erica was leading t he worldwide ranking; in which
violence is regist ered as t he first cause of deat h in several coun t ries
I t is becau se of t he percept ion of t hat sit uat ion t hat Lat in Am erican
governm ent s have reached a consensus, specially during t he last five
years and t aking t he OAS as t heir m ain t ool, t o securit ize dem ocracy,
being, in t his way , t he dem ocrat ic syst em it self t he object t o defend
from t he t hreat s t hat bad governance an d inst it ut ional weakn ess
re-present [ I t is illust rat ive in t his respect t o consider what was det
er-m ined in t he Nuevo Leon Declarat ion (2004 ): “ Social j ust ice and t he
reduct ion of povert y cont ribut e t o t h e st abilit y, dem ocracy, and
secu-rit y of our St at es and t he region. We reit erat e t hat am on g t he
princi-pal causes of inst abilit y in t he region are povert y, inequalit y, and
so-cial exclusion, which we m ust confront com prehensively an d urgent ly
( …)” . Spanish version available at < ht t p: / / w ww.oas.org> ] . I t is t hus
dem onst rat ed a dist inct in clinat ion to t he int erweavem ent of t he
re-gion’s securit y and governance agendas, a process in which t here is
not only an underlying st ruggle ( Herrera; Maj dalani; Foglia; Vega,
200 5) wit h t he aforem ent ioned priorit ies suggest ed by t he lonely
su-perpower post 9- 11, but also a “ dissent bet ween t he Lat in Am erican
count ries about t he not ions and st ru ct ures of hem ispheric securit y
an d defence” ( Celi, 20 05: 12 ).
A nat ural consequence of such het erogeneous cont ext was t he
adop-t ion , by adop-t he Declaraadop-t ion On Securiadop-t y I n The Am ericas ( 2003) , of a
new concept of hem ispheric securit y based on m ult idim ensionalit y,
which enlarges t he t radit ional concept ion of regional securit y link ed t o
t he securit y of t he st at e ( Cold War), st art ing from t he incorporat ion
of new t hreat s and challenges direct ly connect ed wit h t he not ion of
hum an secu rit y [ The Declarat ion considers, am ong ot hers, t he
follo-wing t hreat s: t errorism , t ransnat ional organ ized crim e, t he global
drug problem , corrupt ion, m oney laundering, illegal t raffick ing in
weapons, ext rem e pov ert y an d social exclusion, AI DS, environm ent al
degradat ion, t rafficking in persons, at t ack s t o cyber security , m arit
Ponenci as - Página 10 de 22
access, possession, and use of weapons of m ass dest ruct ion and t heir
m eans of delivery by t errorist s] . I n addit ion t o t hat , t he Declarat ion
also consolidat ed t he t enden cy t owards t he accept ance of a flexible
archit ect ure of securit y, which “ recognizes, wit hou t defining or
con-nect ing t hem , different levels, concept ions and sit uat ions in t he
hem ispheric secu rit y, beyond a h ierarchic and syst em ic art iculat ion
scale” ( Celi, 2005: 14) .
Since t hen, t he cleavage and gu iding axis of regional debat e is given
by t he definit ion of suit able m eans to operat ionalize such abst ract
an d het erogeneou s consensus, a problem t hat rest s on t he obj ect ion
t hat “ the im plem ent at ion of t his m ult idim ensional concept represent s
a risk of an increasing securit izat ion of region al problem s and, for
t hat reason, (brings along) m ilit arizat ion as a response t o confront
t hem ” ( Chillier; Freem an, 20 05). I n t his respect , t errorism ’s case is
paradigm at ical, as t h ere is consensus in considering it a regional
t hreat and, at t he sam e t im e, disensus about wh ich are t he
appro-priat e m eans t o face it . While som e st ates adhered t o t he prem ises of
t he War on Terror and even sent m ilit ary cont in gent s t o I raq ( El
Sal-vador, Nicaragua and Dom in ican Republic), som e ot hers con sider it a
t ypical problem of dom est ic securit y, being t his t he case of
MERCO-SUR m em bers [ I t is relevant t o point out t hat Direct ive 09/ 02 of t he
Com m on Market Council (Adecuación del Plan General de
Coopera-ción y CoordinaCoopera-ción Recíproca para la Segu ridad Regional ent re los
Est ados Part es del MERCOSUR) creat es a specialized forum on t
erro-rism ( Grupo de Trabaj o Perm anent e) an d also int ends t o foster an
in t egrat ed syst em of inform at ion which cont ains dat a of individu als as
well as of organizat ions wit h real or pot ent ial willingn ess on prom
o-t ing o-t erroriso-t aco-t ivio-t ies] .
Th e US NSS06 is com plex an d am bivalent it self due to it s
organiza-t ion . Chaporganiza-t ers depicorganiza-t m any m ixed-issu es ( wiorganiza-t h no clear m eorganiza-t hodology)
on ly on t he basis of US percept ion of int ernat ional affairs. This
con-t excon-t m akes difficulcon-t con-t he analysis of con-t he rescon-t of con-t he regions, abov e all,
of t he European and Lat in- Am erican ones. Therefore, we have
desig-ned a t h ree-field analysis t o describe t he full im plicat ions in t he
Euro-pean Union and a m acro form ula for Lat in Am erica, result ing from t he
diverse polit ical and st rat egic im port ance of t he region for t he US.
E.U. – U.S. at Crossroads
Th e Cooperat ive Ground bet ween US- EU reflect s t he wide series of
issues t hat link com m on int erest s of bot h act ors, reinforcing levels of
in t erdependen ce in m ult iple areas such as securit y and t he new oil
regim e. The cent ralit y of those changes could be out lined in four
it em s of t he US NSS0 6:
1) “ The colour revolut ions in Georgia, Ukraine and Ky rgyzst an hav e
brought new hope for freedom across Eurasian landm ass” ( US NSS,
200 6: 2) . The EU has been su pport ing t hese dem ocratic revolut ions
du e to it s new border and geography result ing from t he Big Bang
en-largem ent ( May 2 004). The EU Near Abroad policy n eeds t he US t o
cont ain Russian am bit ions in order t o influence t he ex sov iet
repu-blics, and t hus reproducing it s soft power and ext ending t he peace
an d st abilit y zone.
2) “ The world’s dependence on th ese few suppliers is n eit her
respon-sible nor sust ainable over t he lon g t erm . The key t o ensu ring our
en ergy secu rit y is div ersit y in t he region s from which resources
co-m e...” (US NSS, 2006: 28). The EU h as suffered froco-m t he oil supply
crisis which cam e from Russia last February 2006 provoking such
Ponenci as - Página 12 de 22
policy ( vid. EU leaders give broad backing t o com m on energy policy.
March 2 4th 2006, in < h t t p: / / w ww .eurobserv er.com > ) t hat aim s at
diversify ing suppliers, respect ing t he env ironm ent an d invest ing on
new sources of energy. Nat urally , t his com m on percept ion designs
sim ilar st rat egies for bot h actors and creat es t he space for
coopera-t ion in shorcoopera-t and long coopera-t erm s.
3) “ Dem ocracies are not im m une t o t errorism . ( ... ) This account s for
t he em ergence in dem ocrat ic societ ies of hom e-grown t errorist s such
as t hose who were responsible for t he bom bings in London in Ju ly
200 5” . Act ually, t he new com m on figure t hat m enaces t he t ransat
lan-t ic com m unilan-t y is lan-t he so-defined “ Troj an Horse” which ch allenges lan-t he
m odel of west ern m ult icult ural societ ies as Leiken explains: “ Jihadist
net works span Europe from Poland t o Port ugal, t hanks to t he spread
of radical I slam am on g descendant s of guest workers once recruit ed
t o shore up Europe’s post -war econom ic m iracle. The em ergence of
hom e- grown m uj ahideen in Europe t hreat ens t he US as well as
Euro-pe” (Leiken, 2005) . Bot h act ors m ight find t he way t o int egrat e t he
growing m ass of im m igrant s in order t o avoid t he ex port at ion of t
e-rrorist cells wit h EU or US passport s (Allam , 2005) .
4) Chapt er I V ( Post - Conflict St abilizat ion and Reconst ruct ion)
guideli-nes are fully com patible wit h EU operat ions in t he Balkans ( Solana’s
paper on Securit y 2003) and part icu larly wit h it s Rapid Force
inaugurat ed a year ago. Alt h ough t he EU will not have t he com plet e com
-m and of EU t roops in large scale int ervent ions an d beco-m e rapidly a
m ilit ary power ( ex . I raq 2003) for t echnical, polit ical and m ilit ary
rea-sons, post bellum act ivit ies t o rest ore governance and dem ocracy t o
it s new borders will be always a st art ing point t o ease Am erican
ef-fort s in risky regions.
Cont rary t o t he cooperat ive ground, we propose t he Crit ical Area of
Cooperat ion, t hat is represen t ed by t he whole Chapt er V of t he US
I ran’s case) and im plies cont inuit y wit h t he version of 2002.
Washing-t on sWashing-t ill con siders Washing-t haWashing-t Washing-t here is a “ risk of inacWashing-t ion” and, in Washing-t his way, Washing-t o
prev ent h ost ile act s t hat could im ply t he use of WMD, t he US “ will, if
necessary, act pre- em pt ively in ex ercising our in herent right of
self-defence” ( US NSS, 2006: 18) . The ant icipat ory act ion to defend Am
e-rican int erest s and values will be t aken using “ all t he elem ent s of
na-t ion al power ( including na-t he concepna-t of New Triad wina-t h bona-t h nuclear
an d im proved convent ional capabilit ies) ” ev en if “un cert aint y rem ain s
as t o t he t im e and place of t he enem y’s at t ack” ( US NSS, 2006:
18-19) .
Tension raises im m ediat ely wit h Brussels as t he Spanish and I t alian
right - wing governm ent s lost t heir respect ive elect ions, t he war in I raq
is facing a crit ical st age, t he EU is not at war and global terrorism is
as st rong as it used t o be four years ago. Solana’s Paper on EU
secu-rit y ( 2003) is am bivalent because it does not rej ect t he possibilit y of
prev ent ive act ions, but rej ect s indirect ly a wide and uncert ain cause
t o act ivat e m echanism of large scale- m ilit ary opt ions. Furt herm ore,
t he idea of exercisin g an inherent right of self-defence on t he basis of
percept ions, not clear t hreat s in t im e and place of t he enem y’s at
-t ack, con-t radic-t s -t he way -t he EU could accep-t -t o u se force abroad.
Polit ically, t he 25 m em bers will never perceive t he sam e t hreat in t he
sam e m om en t due t o t he “ double voice” risk and t he lack of popular
legit im acy of set t ing t he EU t o fight besides t he US wit h non
predic-t able resulpredic-t s. To sum up, hard power is spredic-t ill com pepredic-t ence of opredic-t her m
ul-t ilaul-t eral organizaul-t ions ( UN and NATO) resulul-t ing from ul-t he facul-t ul-t haul-t ul-t he
EU st ill considers it self a regional engine of soft power t hat can
de-ploy it s forces only t o rest ore/ negot iat e peace in it s borders, or
rein-force young dem ocracies to fost er regional st abilit y.
Finally , bet ween t he cooperat ion and pot ent ial t ension areas, we find
t he so-called Unpredict able Zone. This sect ion h as t o do wit h UN an d
Ponenci as - Página 14 de 22
NATO rem ains a vit al pillar of US foreign policy. The int ernal reform
of NATO st ruct ures, capabilit ies, and procedures m ust be accelerat ed
t o ensu re NATO is able t o carry out m ission s effect ively” . Basically,
NATO depends on wh at US and EU want t o do t oget her. I f t hey do
not defin e it s com m it m ent and pat t erns of securit y cooperat ion,
NA-TO will pay for it . ESDP and NANA-TO- EU / US cooperat ion are not m
ar-ginal t echnical issues. They are em blem at ic of a cent ral debat e: how
an d whet her Eu rope and t he Unit ed Stat es can m at ch t he on going
European int egrat ion wit h a st rat egic shift of t he t ran sat lant ic part
-nership t o t ackle t oget her t he new set up of t he int ernat ion al securit y
syst em . This debat e and it s im plem ent at ion are bot h st icked t o t he
adapt at ion of t he t riple “ D” Doct rine and t he well- known Berlin Plu s
form ula, which seem s t o be far from being redesign ed in it s core
is-sues.
L.A. – U.S.: The Const ruct ion of t he St at e
Th e fundam ent al prem ise around which ev olves t he relat ion bet ween
Lat in Am erica and t he Unit ed St at es in t erm s of securit y, is t he
al-m ost insignificant st rat egic ial-m port ance t he region has in t he current
War on Terror. I t is t his sit uat ion, exact ly opposit e t o t he an alysed in
t he EU, t he one t hat det erm ines t hat Washingt on has showed it self
in different wh en facing t he alm ost unanim ous repudiation of Lat in
Am erican governm ent s t owards it s policy of preventive and unilat eral
act ions [ I t is necessary t o rem ark in t his respect t hat , as NATO, t he
OAS act ivat ed it s m echanism of collect ive securit y ( I nt er- Am erican
Treat y of Reciprocal Assist ance) in t he presence of t he 9-11 event s,
en dorsing wit h t his t he Am erican m ilit ary cam paign in Afghanist an] ,
what was clearly seen by t he posit ion t he region adopt ed t owards t he
m ilit ary cam paign in I raq [ act ion only support ed by Colom bia and
St art ing from t h is st udy prism and m oving away, t herefore, from t he
an alyt ical cat egories specifically designed for t he EU case, it is
neces-sary t o point out t hat t he Am erican securit y agenda for Lat in Am erica
present s a cent ral t h em e axis: t he percept ion t hat t he increasin g and
sust ainable weakness of st at e inst it ut ions affirm s it self as an im
por-t anpor-t indirecpor-t por-t hreapor-t por-t o ipor-t s own hom eland securipor-t y. I n opor-t her words, por-t he
progressiv e growt h of difficult ies for governm ent s t o guarant ee order
an d crim e prevention inside each unit lays t he foundat ions for t he
re-gion t o becom e a fert ile ground for t he proliferat ion of pot ential
t hreat s (m ainly t errorism ) for Am erican t errit ory it self. I llust rat ive
are t he words of who was t hen t he Com m ander in Chief of th e U.S.
Sout hern Com m and, General Jam es Hill, who upheld t hat “ ( …) I
sla-m ic radical groups, n arcot errorist s in Colosla-m bia, and urban gangs
across Lat in Am erica all pract ice m any of t he sam e illicit business
m et hods (…) . Terrorist s t hroughout t he Sout hern Com m and area of
responsibilit y bom b, m urder, k idnap, t raffic drugs, t ransfer arm s,
launder m oney , and sm uggle hum ans” (Hill, 2 006).
Th is is t he sit uat ion th at underlies an d bases t he deep relevan ce t he
US NSS06 giv es t o t he prom ot ion of t ruly “ effect ive dem ocracies” in
t he region , which is not hing else t han a procedim ent al t ype ( Collier;
Levit zk y, 2 000) of dem ocracy wit h a different nat ure t han t he
appa-rent ly want ed by t he OAS in it s aforem en tioned declarat ions. Once
t he low lev el of st at e inst it ut ionality is perceived as a t hreat , t he
Uni-t ed SUni-t aUni-t es are aim ed aUni-t conUni-t ribuUni-t ing Uni-t o Uni-t he sUni-t rengUni-t hening of Uni-t he LaUni-t in
Am erican st at e, m ainly in what respect s t o it s role as exclusive holder
of t he legit im at e use of force, in a way t hat cont ribut es t o indirect ly
in sure it s own hom eland. The US NSS06 is clear in t his respect : “ if
Am erica’s nearest neigh bours are not secure and st able, t hen Am
eri-cans will be less secure” (US NSS, 2 006: 37 ).
Th is int erpret at ion of regional sit uat ion, and of t he necessary m ean s
Ponenci as - Página 16 de 22
it has gained m ore im port ance in it s 2006 redesign, a fact which can
find it s reason in t h e post 2001 proliferat ion of ideologically leftist
La-t in Am erican gov ernm enLa-t s wiLa-t h a naLa-t ionalisLa-t discourse and in som e
cases purely ant i- Am erican ( Venezuela and Bolivia) . These are t he
sit uat ions labelled as radical neopopulism s, as real t yrannies, which,
according t o Washingt on, feedback t he phenom enon of st at e
weak-ness and raise t hem selv es as a concret e t hreat t o regional st abilit y.
Bey ond t his m ain approach of t h e Unit ed St at es, axis of t he m acro
form ula of analysis suggest ed t o underst and it s agenda t owards Lat in
Am erica, t he Am erican int erest in t he region confines it self principally
t o t hree part icular sit uat ions: ( 1) narcot errorism in Colom bia, (2) t he
spreading of t he Ch avez effect and ( 3) illegal Mexican im m igrat ion.
1) “ I n Colom bia, a dem ocrat ic ally is fight ing t he persist ent assault s
of Marxist t errorist s an d dru g-t raffickers” (US NSS, 20 06: 15) . Before
9- 11 event s t he Am erican int erest in Sout h Am erica was alm ost
ex-clusively focused on t he fight again st drug t rafficking in Colom bia.
Since t he An dean I nit iat ive of 1989 t he Unit ed St at es have provided
funds for t he form at ion and equipm en t of police forces in t his t ask, an
assist ance t hat gain a rem arkable n ew im port ance since t he
laun-ching of t he Plan Colom bia (200 0) - wh ich m eant t he allowance US$
4 billion - . This plan has im plied a st rong m ilit ary presen ce of t he
Uni-t ed SUni-t aUni-t es in Uni-t he counUni-t ry , a siUni-t uaUni-t ion which has been sUni-t rengUni-t hen since
t he beginning of t he War on Terror and t he Am erican percept ion t hat
t he st rong bonds bet ween terrorism and drug t rafficking define t he
em ergence of a serious t hreat , narcot errorism , which has t o be
con-front ed by m eans of t he m ilit ary inst rum ent [ According t o t he St
oc-kh olm I nt ernat ional Peace Research I nst it ut e (SI PRI ) , Colom bia, t
o-get h er wit h Brazil an d Chile, represent t he 80% of t he regional
de-fense expendit ures in 2005] .
2) “ I n Venezuela, a dem agogue awash in oil m oney is underm in ing
15) . The Whit e House concern wit h respect t o t he sit u at ion in
Vene-zuela is cent red in prevent ing t he regional spreading of what th ey
consider a t yrannical set of ideas, populist pract ices and ant
i-Am erican discourse in t he leading of t he form er m ilit ary and current
President Hugo Chavez. Wit hout a doubt , t he assum pt ion of t he coke
leader Evo Morales in Bolivia, st rat egic ally of Chavez, will reinforce
t hat Am erican posit ion. I t is also wort h m ent ion ing t hat in t his policy
of cont ainm ent of Venezu ela, Lula Da Silva’s Brazil plays an im port ant
role, being considered in t he US NSS06 as a t rue regional leader
com m it t ed t o t he dem ocrat ic values.
3) “ We m ust cont inue t o work wit h our neighbours in t he Hem isphere
t o reduce illegal im m igrat ion” ( US NSS, 200 6: 37) . The US NSS06
pays special at t ent ion t o t he m at t er of illegal im m igrat ion as a t hreat
t o t he Am erican hom eland, which finds it self in fine harm ony wit h t he
recent decision of th e Bush Adm inist rat ion of const ruct in g a wall
along t h e whole ex t ension of t heir border wit h Mexico (62 1.4 m iles)
t o st rengt hen security in t he area. The proj ect has m et , from t he
be-ginning, a st rong rej ect ion from Lat in Am erican governm ent s ( vid.
Cent ro Am erica se une con t ra el m uro, 2006, in
< ht t p: / / ww w.bbc.co.uk > ) who, t o a great ext ent , claim for a com
ple-t e m igraple-t ory reform and nople-t for one ex clusively focused in ple-t he coacple-t
i-ve aspect .
Conclusions and Perspect ives
To conclude, we present below several t rends which aim is t o
charac-t erize US dyn am ic of charac-t he relacharac-t ion ship wicharac-t h Europe and Lacharac-t in Am erica,
linked t o securit y an d defense pat t erns est ablished by t he US NSS06.
Ponenci as - Página 18 de 22
Th e perspect iv e bet ween t he Un it ed St at es an d t he EU is based on
t he t hree axes st at ed up t o here. The act ors’ will t o cooperat e is
sup-port ed by a st rong com m ercial and energet ic int erdependence. At t he
sam e t im e, it s relat ionship get s weak er due t o t he con firm at ion of t he
cent ralit y of t he pre-em pt ive at t ack m odus operan di and it s m et hods
t o face regional crisis in hot areas of t he globe (ex. Middle East ) .
The-refore, t he EU- US t ies should be re-build t hrough long- last ing bridges
of product ive int eract ion and concret e harm onizat ion on how t o
per-form t he ius ad bellum . Taking int o accou nt t he US NSS06, bot h
ac-t ors will have ac-t o correcac-t and negoac-t iaac-t e ac-t h eir inac-teracac-t ion in ac-t hree
cen-t ral spheres:
1) The EU has t o st rengt hen or, bet t er, creat e t he political space t o
produ ce real m echanism s of Hom eland securit y ( Hom eland Europe)
an d, in t his way, count eract int ernat ional t errorism m ore appropriat
e-ly . At t he sam e t im e, it has t o graduale-ly increase t he defense budget
which could be t he plat form for updat ing t h e Berlin Plus in t he NATO.
2) The Unit ed St at es has t o be m ore accurat e and clear as regards it s
definit ion of prevent iv e at t ack: t here is no clear definit ion on how
im m inent should be the t hreat t o use force. This am biv alence is also
confusing in t he Hom eland Securit y st rat egy, t hat seem s to violat e
Hum an Right s st andards (e.x. Guant am ano case) . The abov e m ent
io-ned definit ion m ust fit in t he reform est ablish ed by t he Unit ed Nat ion s
an d it s sy st em of collect ive securit y.
3) An ext ernal event t hat m ight help bot h act ors t o cooperat e is
Chi-na as an em erging global act or in com m ercial, fiChi-nancial and m onet ary
m at t ers. The capit alizat ion of polit ical consensu s t hanks t o a possible
t hreat of syst em ic m isbalance wit h China as an Asian absolut e power
could result int o a fort ificat ion of deeper bonds bet ween Washingt on
Unit ed St at es – Lat in Am erica
Th e st rat egic irrelevance fram ework will cont inue t o shape t he
rela-t ion s berela-t ween rela-t he Unirela-t ed Srela-t arela-t es and a Larela-t in Am erica im m ersed in a
deep governance crisis t hat hinders t he prom ot ion of cit izen securit y
an d obst ruct s reaching an operat ive consensus about specific policies
t o approach t he part icular circum st ances t he region is going t hrough.
Under t his cont ext , t here are t hree m ain t endencies aroun d which t he
Lat in Am erican securit y agenda post NSS06 will evolve:
1) Regional disint egrat ion: The aforem ent ioned difficult y t o reach
ge-neral consensus, added t o t he weakening of regional inst it ut ions as a
space for policy coordinat ion ( ex. MERCOSUR an d C.A.N. ) and t o t he
proliferat ion of int ra- regional conflict s of a bilat eral nat u re, det erm
i-nes t hat t he region heads t owards a dangerous disint egrat ion ( from
which t he current flexible securit y archit ect ure is an accurat e
reflec-t ion ) where ireflec-t will be even m ore perm eable reflec-to foreign inreflec-t eresreflec-t s and
form ulas.
2) I ncreasing securit izat ion: The exist ence of a large and m ult idim
en-sional concept of regional securit y as t he current one, added t o t he
pressure exercised by t h e Unit ed St at es t o deal in an im m ediat e way
wit h loosely defined t hreat s, and t o t he st ron g social dem and t o solve
t he violence problem , lays t he foun dat ions for an increasing securit
i-zat ion of t he region’s problem s and t herefore, for t he accept ance of
m ilit arizat ion as a m ean t o confront t hem . I t will be im port ant t o
ana-ly se t he im pact t hat m ay have in th is process t he fact t h at t he period
200 6-200 7 has a st rong elect oral com ponent ( bot h in t he execu t ive
an d legislat ive level).
3) Sub regional consensus: Being so difficult t o reach a consensu s
t hat em brace t he region as a whole and exist ing inst it ut ional channels
for sub regional and bilat eral dialogue t hat , alt hou gh it s weakness in
Ponenci as - Página 20 de 22
will have t o give priority to it s con solidat ion as a st rat egy t o art icu lat e
com m on policies and, in t his way, build t he necessary consensus t o
generat e reciprocal confidence. I t is wort h m ent ioning as an exam ple,
t he recent creat ion bet ween Argent ina and Chile, of a binat ional
per-m anent force for peace operat ions.
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