Arms import dependence in South America: a structural assessment

• Grant number: 16/09593-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: December 08, 2016
• End date: November 27, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - International Politics
• Principal Investigator: Héctor Luis Saint-Pierre
• Grantee: Diego Lopes da Silva
• Supervisor: Aude-Emmanuelle Fleurant
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Sweden
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/07197-0 - The dependence on defense resources imports and the construction of the South American strategic identity, BP.DR

Abstract

The core objective of this project is to conduct a study on arms import dependence of non-Latin American suppliers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela between 1950 and 2014. The research is inserted in a broader proposal - already under funding support by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) - which aims to analyze the effects of this specific type of predicament in the proliferation of defense cooperative initiatives in South America. The hypothesis put forward by the main project argues that the acute dependence on imported armaments interferes negatively with the process of sub-regional defense cooperation. The test of this hypothesis necessarily requires an accurate assessment of the military dependence levels of the considered countries in a historical perspective - which is precisely the leading aspiration of the present proposal. Hence, we aim to i) assess domestic production capabilities: ii) analyze the possibilities for supplier diversification; iii) evaluate national levels of weapon maintenance capabilities; and iv) identify the motivations put forward to justify the procurements, specific suppliers, and types of weapons. The fulfillment of this project's objectives is imperative for the subsequent verification of a possible relationship between arms import dependence and the proliferation of defense cooperation initiatives in South America (AU)