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Begin New Search Publishing Institution German Institute of Global and Area Studies Author Leslie Wehner

1. Drivers of Strategic Contestation in South America

Author:
Daniel Flemes and Leslie Wehner
Publication Date:
10-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
The politics of contestation on the part of secondary regional powers such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela towards Brazil as the regional leader oscillate between competition and cooperation, inasmuch as the South American region has one regional power and is a zone of negative peace without aggressive rivalries. The secondary powers use different tactics, which constitute their respective foreign policy strategies, to soft balance Brazil. These tactics include alliance building, entangling diplomacy, binding, and omni‐enmeshment. This paper identifies, first, the specific drivers of contestation towards Brazil and, second, why the secondary powers' foreign policy strategies vary in how they directly or indirectly contest the rise of Brazil at the regional and international levels. The paper demonstrates that in a regional order such as that of South America, which is characterized by relative stability, domestic drivers of contestation are key to explaining secondary powers' varied strategic responses to the regional power.
Topic:
Development, Emerging Markets, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Regional Cooperation, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Japan and South America

2. From Rivalry to Mutual Trust: The Othering Process between Bolivia and Chile

Author:
Leslie Wehner
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Bolivia and Chile live in a culture of rivalry as a consequence of the Nitrate War (1879 ‐ 1883). In each country's case, the construction of the other as a threat, a rival and/or inferior has shaped the discursive articulation of the bilateral relationship. Whereas the culture of rivalry is more evident in Bolivia because of its aspiration to alter the border, Chile's status ‐ quo position, which stresses that there are no pending issues with Bolivia, as well as its construction of itself as superior, also represents rivalrous behavior. The perception of Chile as a threat and rival became especially evident in Bolivia during these two countries' bilateral negotiations to export gas to and through Chile (gas crisis from 2001 ‐ 05). However, since Evo Morales and Michelle Bachelet took office in Bolivia (2006 ‐ present) and in Chile (2006 ‐ 10), respectively, they have sought to change this culture of rivalry to one of friendship by constructing discursive articulations of self and other based on the principle of building mutual trust. Such a change in the form of othering is only possible to understand within the context of a crisis of meanings. The new approach of othering the counterpart as a friend has filled the void of meaning left by the crisis of discursive articulations of othering the counterpart as a rival, a threat and/or inferior.
Topic:
Political Theory and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
South America, Chile, and Bolivia

3. Power, Governance, and Ideas in Chile's Free Trade Agreement Policy

Author:
Leslie Wehner
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Why is Chile following such a proactive FTA policy and at the same time promoting the benefits of these type of agreements to other Latin American countries? There is a pre-dominance of economic explanations to analyze why countries pursue an active FTA policy. Yet within an FTA policy, understood as an essential component of a country's foreign policy, strategic and ideational goals are also important. Without downgrading economic explanations, I argue in this article that Chile's proactive FTA policy can also be under-stood using variables from "traditional" international relations such as power, governance, and ideas. A framework based on such political-economic strategic issues and value-based ideas provides a better understanding of the country's motivations in implementing such a proactive FTA policy.
Topic:
Globalization and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Latin America and Chile

4. Más allá de lo económico: Los objetivos estratégicos de los TLCs de Chile y México

Author:
Leslie Wehner
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
This article analyzes the “other” goals that drive Chile and Mexico to achieve intra- and extra-regional FTAs. These countries have a predominantly economic motivation to negotiate FTAs. However, there are other elements that are less apparent, but equally important, in Chile's and Mexico's FTA policies. These accords can also be seen as means to power and as mechanisms for establishing a closer system of global economic governance than that available through multilateral forums. Therefore, these two countries' FTAs are an ad hoc system that represents their respective economic contexts and realities. In other words, FTAs as an essential part of Chile's and Mexico's foreign policies have a strategic political-economic logic that synthesizes the notions of power and institutions. However, these two forces do not exclude of the economic logic for FTAs, which focuses on the maximization of consumers' welfare and producer s' gains. On the contrary, they have to be taken as complementary factors.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Regional Cooperation, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Latin America, Mexico, and Chile