National Security Concepts of States Argentina

138 Pages·2012·21.05 MB·English

UNIDIR/92/14
UNIDIR
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
Geneva
National Security Concepts of States
(cid:129)
(cid:129)
Argentina
Julio C. Carasales
UNITED NATIONS
New York, 1992
NOTE
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication
do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of
the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or
of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
UNIDIR/92/14
UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION
Sales No. GV.E.92.0.9
ISBN 92-9045-061-4
X
UNIDIR
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
UNIDIR is an autonomous institution within the framework of the United Nations. It was
established in 1980 by the General Assembly for the purpose of undertaking independent
research on disarmament and related problems, particularly international security issues.
The work of the Institute aims at:
1. Providing the international community with more diversified and complete data on
problems relating to international security, the armaments race, and disarmament in all
fields, particularly in the nuclear field, so as to facilitate progress, through negotiations,
towards greater security for all States and toward the economic and social development of
all peoples;
2. Promoting informed participation by all States in disarmament efforts;
3. Assisting ongoing negotiations in disarmament and continuing efforts to ensure greater
international security at a progressively lower level of armaments, particularly nuclear
armaments, by means of objective and factual studies and analyses;
4. Carrying out more in-depth, forward-looking, and long-term research on disarmament, so
as to provide a general insight into the problems involved, and stimulating new initiatives
for new negotiations.
The contents of UNIDIR publications are the responsibility of the authors and not of
UNIDIR. Although UNIDIR takes no position on the views and conclusions expressed by
the authors of its research reports, it does assume responsibiliQr for determining whether they
merit publication.
UNIDIR
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Tel. [phone]
iii

Table of Contents
Page
Forward..............................................................................................................................vii
Preface.................................................................................................................................ix
Chapter I. Introduction.......................................................................... l
Chapter II. Views on Security.....................................................................9
1. What Meaning is Attached to Security ....................................................................9
(a) The National Constitution of the Argentine Republic ......................... 10
(b) The National Defence Act of 1966 ....................................................... 11
(c) The Doctrine of National Security ....................................................... 15
(d) The National Defence Act of 1988 ........................................... 18
(e) External Security ........................................................................................... 20
2. The Main Security Problems at World and Regional Level
as Perceived in the Argentina Republic................................................................ 22
3. Outlook for the Argentine Security Scene Over the Next Few Years ....................27
Chapter III. The Domestic Foundations of Security................................. 33
1. The Decision-Making Process ............................................................................. 33
(a) Structure and Functions of the Competent Government Bodies ....................33
(b) Principal Legislative Provisions on Security and Essential Characteristics
of the Decision-Making Process in this Area...................................................43
2. Resources for Security ...........................................................................................53
(a) Military Resources........................................................................................ 53
(b) Economic Resources..................................................................................... 59
(c) Social Resources .......................................................................................... 64
Chapter IV. The Regional Outlook......................................................... 67
1. Geographical Characteristics Connected with Security........................................ 67
2. Ideas and Policy on Security in the Regional Setting ...........................................71
(a) Brazil...............................................................................................................72
(b) Chile.............................................................................................................. 79
(c) Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay ................................................................... 86
(d) The Malvinas Islands and the United Kingdom ........................................... 87
(e) The South Atlantic and the Antarctic ..............................................................90
(f) The Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance........................................95
vi National Security Concepts of States: Argentina
3. Attitude of the Argentine Republic to Regional Disarmament Efforts ...................97
(a) Regional Disarmament ....................................................................................97
(b) Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones ...........................................................................99
(c) Zones of Peace............................................................................................. 103
(d) Confidence-Building Measures.................................................................... 104
Chapter V. The Global Outlook .................................................................... 107
1. National Views on the World Situation.............................................................. 107
(a) The Present Situation .................................................................................. 107
(b) The Big Politico-Military Blocs .................................................................. 109
(c) The Non-Aligned Movement ...................................................................... 110
2. Security Policy on the Worldwide Scale ............................................................ 112
(a) Position of Argentina in the Main Conflicts of Recent Decades................. 112
(b) Argentine Positions on the Main Disarmament and Security Issues 115
Nuclear Weapons ........................................................................................ 116
Nuclear Weapon Tests.................................................................................. 117
Conventional Disarmament ......................................................................... 118
Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space ............................................... 118
Disarmament and Development .................................................................. 119
Military Expenditure.................................................................................... 120
Disarmament Treaties .................................................................................. 121
Chapter VI. Concluding Considerations....................................................... 123
UNIDIR Recent Publications 129
Foreword
From the very outset I considered it an honour and a challenge to be asked by the United
Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) to prepare a study on the ideas and
policy of the Argentine Republic with regard to security.
I undertook the task with keen interest, for the subject is not one on which much is being
written in Argentina. This is partly because the collaboration and interaction between the
academic and the military sector that occur in other communities do not happen in this
country; but perhaps in larger measure the explanation lies in the undeniable fact that, in
matters of this kind, the specialists’ attention has tended to focus directly or indirectly on the
vast problem presented by the history of active participation by the armed forces in Argentine
political life and the need to find the right way to integrate them properly into the democratic
institutions of which they should be the prop and stay.
Moreover there could be no more propitious time than the present at which to tackle a
study of this kind. The external setting, both global and regional, has undergone sweeping
changes that are accepted by everyone. What is especially stimulating is that Argentina itself
is undergoing a process of profound transformation which will have significant consequences
both domestically and internationally.
It is a fact that information about Argentina’s historic past whether remote or recent is not
plentiful, or at any rate not generally known, abroad. Even less, obviously, are people in
touch with what is happening at the present time. This explains why this book has been
written primarily with the foreign reader in mind; indeed it is largely intended for that reader.
At many points, therefore, material is included which would have been left out as superfluous
or repetitive if the work had been published in Argentina.
In addition to documentary sources of various kinds, I wish to acknowledge the wealth of
assistance in the preparation of this study which I received from continuing conversations
with officials and friends in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the
Joint General Staff. These dialogues were especially profitable to me, inter alia on the many
occasions when our views did not coincide. Responsibility for the views expressed in the
book rests, of course, entirely with the writer.
While on this subject I should make it clear that, although the writer is a serving
diplomatic official, the preparation of the present study has been a purely personal activity,
and the ideas, opinions and thoughts expressed in it should at no point be construed as
expressing official Argentine thinking or as reflecting a government position except, of
course, where they are specifically attributed to a national authority.
Lastiy I wish to express the hope that this study will make a useful contribution to a better
understanding of the situation and concerns of the Argentine Republic, not on security matters
alone, in an especially interesting
period of its history.
Julio C4sar Carasales
Buenos Aires
December 1990

Preface
Research into the national security concepts of states has been an important component of
UNIDIR’s research programme for many years. After the early monographs that were
published UNIDIR has now begun to publish research reports describing and analyzing the
basic concepts that shape and influence the foreign and security policies of states including
their approaches to disarmament We are convinced that this series of research reports will
engender a greater understanding of national policies in the intemational context facilitating
the discussions and negotiations that go on.
The epochal change in intemational relations that we have witoessed, from the bipolar
confrontation of the Cold War to the more co-operative global system with the United Nations
being empowered to perform its Charter functions, has affected all countries. The contours
of the new world situation have still to be defined. In this transitional period several research
reports on the national security concepts that were being written have had to be revised or
delayed. Thus UNIDIR hopes to publish more reports in this series in the future.
This research report on the National Security Concepts of the Argentine Republic is a
comprehensive description and analysis of the security and disarmament policies of a major
country. Ambassador Julio Carasales is excellently equipped to write on die subject with his
long diplomatic experience which included being the head of his country’s delegation to the
Geneva based Conference on Disarmament. The views expressed in the book are of course
his own and not necessarily those of his Government.
Ambassador Carasales describes the basic legislative and decision-making features of his
country’s security policy and proceeds to analyze Argentina’s security concepts in the regional
and global contexts. The positions of the country on specific disarmament issues are also
explained. This book undoubtedly fulfils an important role in explaining the national security
concepts of the Argentine Republic to the world.
The views expressed in the book are the responsibility of the author and not of UNIDIR.
We do, however, commend it to the attention of our readers.
Jayantha Dhampala
Director