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Begin New Search Topic Foreign Policy Author Farid Kahhat

1. Elementos de una aproximación interpretativa a las ciencias sociales

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
Statesmen address security concerns based on their understanding of the issues at stake. Such a truism becomes problematic, though, once we realize that no fact or event does inherently pose a threat to a state's security. Threats can only be identified by silhouetting them against the background of an interpretive framework: only after we know what could count as a security threat can we recognize certain facts or events as particular instances of that general phenomena. Therefore, different frameworks of interpretation will elicit different meanings from the same facts and events, and suggest different courses of action in response to them.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Development, and Government

2. Balance of Power, Democracy and Foreign Policy in South America's Southern Cone

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to assess the merits of two contending theories (balance of power and democratic peace) on the relationship between regime type (e.g., democratic or authoritarian) and foreign policy orientation (i.e., relative proneness towards conflict and cooperation) for the case of South America's Southern Cone between 1970 and 1995. I will argue that a balance of power perspective does not provide a persuasive explanation of changing patterns of inter-state conflict and cooperation within this region during the period under scrutiny. In turn, I will suggest that many attempts to test democratic peace theory beyond the industrialized democracies in the post-war era may be conceptually flawed.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Democratization, Government, and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
South America

3. Los estudios de seguridad tras el fin de la Guerra Fría.

Author:
Farid Kahhat
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to compare a neorealist perspective on security issues with new perspectives on the subject that have gained ground since the end of the Cold War. The neorealist perspective privileges the state as the object of reference of security policies, while guaranteeing its political survival is seen as their ultimate aim (which implies, at the very least, to preserve an institutional control over a given territory). In turn, the main threats to the survival of the state are essentially foreign military threats, represented by the regular armies of neighboring states. Therefore, military arsenals provide the most effective means to cope with those threats.
Topic:
Security, Foreign Policy, Cold War, and War