Regional Mechanisms and International Security in Latin America

A great diversity of points of view on international security, one of the most current subjects in the area of international relations, coexist in Latin America and the Caribbean. This region is immersed in an interesting debate in which reticence and enthusiasm coexist and confront themselves in order to enlarge the functions of regional mechanisms of security, or to evaluate experiences acquired either through UN action or recent tendencies of the Security Council. The center of debate is also found in the impossible to ignore role of the United States. Does the end of the Cold War modify the U.S. interests in Latin America in the field of security? Should existing mechanisms of collective security in the region be strengthened? Or should new alternatives be found? How far is a shared agenda for security, not only with the United States but also between the countries in Latin America itself, and among them and the Caribbean, possible or desirable? How acceptable are the new tendencies of the multilateral organizations in the field of security of the countries in the region? These are some of the questions that this book deals with from different points of view. It presents a new perspective on the contemporary debate over international security in Latin America and the Caribbean.