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Armed Diplomacy: Why Too Much Military Is Dangerous in Latin America

Armed Diplomacy: Why Too Much Military Is Dangerous in Latin America

Paperback

General Latin American HistoryGeneral Political ScienceInternational Relations

ISBN10: 1288254377
ISBN13: 9781288254378
Publisher: Biblioscholar
Published: Nov 9 2012
Pages: 36
Weight: 0.14
Height: 0.07 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

In fiscal year 2008, United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) carried out 122 humanitarian projects in 26 countries. It conducted 65 Medical Readiness Training Exercises (MEDRETEs) in 17 countries, treating over 200,000 people and 46,000 animals. In addition, it provided coordinated response to disasters in Costa Rica, Panama, and Haiti. This paper will show that the use of military resources as soft power has many effects on American strategic posture in LATAM. The negative effects include militarizing US foreign policy, shifting funds away from civilian agencies, overestimating the strategic influence, delegitimizing regional actors, stressing US military forces, and degrading the local infrastructure. The positive effects of military use as soft power include providing a constant presence in area of operations, providing training to US military members, improving relations at the local/village level, and establishing contacts for future military operations. Finally, this paper proposes that the most appropriate soft power application of military assets in Latin America for the future is disaster relief. The January 2010 US response to the earthquake in Haiti was used as a case study. In conclusion, over-utilization of the military for purposes other than disaster relief as an instrument of soft power actually serves to weaken the overall strategic posture of the United States in Latin America.

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International Relations