Paradox of Autonomy: explaining ﬂaws in

South American security regionalismo

Paradoxo da autonomia: explicando as deﬁciências no

regionalismo de segurança sul-americano

Paradoja de la autonomía: explicando las falencias en el

regionalismo de seguridad sudamericano

Víctor M. Mijares

DOI: 10.5752/P.2317-773X.2020v8.n1.p89

Received in June 13, 2019

Accepted in August 19, 2019

A

This article addresses the South American diculties in the consolidation of

regional security mechanisms, developing the explanatory model of “paradox

of autonomy.” This was developed through inductive and deductive criteria,

based on recent history observations, in order to attain generalizable lessons

from a relevant case for South American international relations, and using ratio-

nal analytical approaches that allowed their construction within the framework

of collective action problems. From the observation on the emergence and

performance of the South American Defense Council, it was identied that the

allowing conditions for a novel mechanism of regional (collective) autonomy

for security, paradoxically oered opportunities for the exercise of national (in-

dividual) autonomy. The article concludes that, although the conditions for the

paradox of autonomy are dicult to overcome in cases of security regionalism

initiatives, there are possibilities to do so. The key would be in less ambitious

institutional designs that recognize the inherent diculties for institutional

regional security cooperation in South America.

Keywords: Paradox of Autonomy. South America. International autonomy.

Security regionalism.

R

Este artigo aborda as diculdades sul-americanas na consolidação de mecanis-

mos regionais de segurança, desenvolvendo o modelo explicativo do “paradoxo

da autonomia”. Isso foi desenvolvido através de critérios indutivos e dedutivos,

com base em observações da história recente, para obter lições generalizáveis

de um caso relevante para as relações internacionais da América do Sul e o uso

de abordagens analíticas racionais que permitiram sua construção no quadro de

problemas de ação coletiva. A partir da observação sobre o surgimento e desem-

penho do Conselho de Defesa Sul-Americano, identicou-se que as condições

propícias a um novo mecanismo de autonomia regional (coletiva) de segurança,

1. Assistant Professor of Political

Science, Universidad de los Andes,

Colombia; Ph.D. in Political Science,

Universität Hamburg and GIGA German

Institute of Global and Area Studies.

Bogotá/Colombia. ORCID: 0000-0003-

4110-7763. The author would like to

thank Andreas von Staden, Andrés

Rivarola Puntigliano, Anja Jetschke,

Cord Jakobeit, Daniel Flemes, Detlef

Nolte, Diana Tussie, Jorge Garzón,

Leslie Wehner, Luis Schenoni, Michael

Brzoska, and Wolf Grabendorff for

their comments on early versions of

this article, and to Louise Lowe for her

English editing assistance. Also the

anonymous reviewers for their helpful

and constructive comments that contrib-

uted to improving the ﬁnal version. This

work was possible due to the ﬁnancial

support of DAAD and GIGA.

estudos internacionais • Belo Horizonte, ISSN 2317-773X, v. 8, n. 1, (abr. 2020), p. 89 - 106

paradoxalmente ofereciam oportunidades para o exercício da autonomia na-

cional (individual). O artigo conclui que, embora as condições para o paradoxo

da autonomia sejam difíceis de superar nos casos de iniciativas regionais de

segurança, há possibilidades de fazê-lo. A chave estaria em projetos institucio-

nais menos ambiciosos que reconheçam as diculdades inerentes à cooperação

institucional de segurança regional na Sul-América.

Palavras-chave: Paradoxo da Autonomia. América do Sul. Autonomia interna-

cional. Regionalismo de segurança

R

Este artículo aborda las dicultades sudamericanas en la consolidación de los

mecanismos de seguridad regional, desarrollando el modelo explicativo de “pa-

radoja de la autonomía”. Este se desarrolló a través de criterios inductivos y de-

ductivos, basados en observaciones de historia reciente, para obtener lecciones

generalizables a partir de un caso relevante para las relaciones internacionales

de América del Sur, y el uso de enfoques analíticos racionales que permitieron

su construcción en el marco de los problemas de acción colectiva. A partir de la

observación sobre el surgimiento y el desempeño del Consejo de Defensa Suda-

mericano, se identicó que las condiciones propicias para un nuevo mecanismo

de autonomía regional (colectiva) para la seguridad, paradójicamente ofrecían

oportunidades para el ejercicio de la autonomía nacional (individual). El artículo

concluye que, aunque las condiciones para la paradoja de la autonomía son

difíciles de superar en casos de iniciativas de regionalismo de seguridad, existen

posibilidades de hacerlo. La clave estaría en diseños institucionales menos ambi-

ciosos que reconozcan las dicultades inherentes para la cooperación institucio-

nal de seguridad regional en Sudamérica.

Palabras clave: Paradoja de la Autonomía. Sudamérica. Autonomía internacio-

nal. Regionalismo de seguridad.

Introduction

Inspired by the works of Juan Carlos Puig and Helio Jaguaribe,

studies on international autonomy have been reconsidered given the pat-

terns in South American foreign policy towards the end of the 20

and

the beginning of the 21

century. Driven structurally by the diusion of

power and exercised by strong presidents, most of them highly motivated

and ideologically aligned, the search for greater margins for action in in-

ternational insertion became an imperative of foreign policy. New intra-

and extra-regional alignments, as well as a new and more ambitious wave

of regionalism, took place in the face of the perceived global diusion of

power and the geostrategic reorientation of the United States (US).

However, South America has had problems consolidating a secu-

rity community. The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) ex-

periment and its South American Defense Council (CDS) failed in 2018,

demonstrating that the internal tensions for national autonomy were

stronger than the exible design thought for regional or collective au-

tonomy. This could be analyzed throughout the “paradox of autonomy”.

It occurs in the tension between national autonomy–the freedom of de-

cision and action that a state can enjoy in the international system –and

regional autonomy– regarding organized regions.

Víctor M. Mijares Paradox of Autonomy: Explaining Flaws in South American Security Regionalism

Methodologically, this article is based on a systematic review as

a research design (DENYER; TRANFIELD, 2009), in order to develop

an analytical model based on the observation of the recent experience

of South American security regionalism. The explanatory model of the

paradox of autonomy agrees with the idea of regionalism as a tool for re-

gional autonomy, but also challenges it in two ways. Firstly, regarding ho-

mogeneity, the paradox of autonomy is a structural model, assuming that

the regional hierarchy is fundamental in the prediction of foreign policy

behavior. Secondly, it contrasts the notions of “common” and “collective”,

while the paradox lies in the potential conict between the notion of au-

tonomy as a recurring objective and that of autonomy as a shared objec-

tive. It is understood that for regional powers, and secondary powers,

autonomy is a key objective. Asymmetries generate stimulus for band-

wagoning, and can leave aside autonomous objectives in favor of security

and development. Thus, the paradox of autonomy commonly occurs at

the level of secondary powers, since collective (regional) autonomy can

be both a route and an obstacle for individual (national) autonomy. Thus,

even considering the possibility of autonomy as a common objective, it

might not be considered a collective one.

The paradox of autonomy can arise in many areas of foreign policy,

but it is a particularly sensitive phenomenon when it comes to issues of

defense and security in South America. An oft-forgotten aspect in the de-

veloped South American autonomist doctrine of international law is the

primacy of Westphalian sovereignty. The notion of territorial integrity

is central to security and defense policies, mainly for Hispanic American

countries. The connection between sovereignty and security puts nation-

al autonomy before the regional. This is a common problem for South

American cooperation in security, and remains a latent condition in bor-

der tensions and rivalries in the region. Hence, multilateral governance

agreements on regional security are unusual, making the region far from

being a security community. Thus, although forms of regionalism re-

lating to development have shown formidable resistance, reluctance in

terms of security cooperation is linked to the rigid meaning of sovereign-

ty, leading to the paradox.

Autonomy and regionalism in South America

Some literature states that regionalism is driven by the search

for autonomy as well as development objectives (BRICEÑO-RUIZ; SI-

MONOFF, 2015; RIVAROLA PUNTIGLIANO; BRICEÑO-RUIZ, 2013).

Insofar as this literature does not specify dierences between national

and regional autonomy, it is possible that the complementarity between

the two is taken for granted, with the potential eect of leading to impre-

cise conclusions regarding security regionalism. That alignment is fre-

quent in the agendas of regional powers.

Following the ideas on South American regionalism, it is possible

to identify the main driving forces behind the search for autonomy. The

rst of these is development, the most prominent argument in favor of

institutionalizing regional cooperation. The combination of economic

estudos internacionais • Belo Horizonte, ISSN 2317-773X, v. 8, n. 1, (abr. 2020), p. 89 - 106

underdevelopment and material potential has historically motivated re-

gional cooperation. The second driving force is democracy, since the third

wave of democratization contributed to the synchronization of political

regimes in the region, motivating multi-sectoral cooperation. And the

third driving force is the balance of power, given the changes in the dis-

tribution of power and the geostrategic reorientation of the US, securi-

ty regionalism has been identied as a driving force of regionalism in

a broader sense, mainly in post-hegemonic literature (BRICEÑO-RUIZ;

MORALES, 2017; RIGGIROZZI; TUSSIE, 2012).

However, the paths of regionalism are not open ways in South

America. The primary obstacle to the institutionalization of regional

cooperation can be analyzed as a problem of collective action. Conse-

quently, the principal obstructing forces are national strategies for inter-

national insertion, rival ideological programs, and low regional interde-

pendence. Regarding the national strategies for international insertion,

global changes in the distribution and concentration of power brought a

new opening for external interactions beyond traditional relations based

on proximity and culture. The rise of new powers and orders modies

regional patterns for cooperation. Thus, regions have maintained im-

portance, but not exclusivity. Also, ideological rivalries in South Amer-

ica submit the region to the eects of ideological diversity and partial

de-democratization. Signicant dierences between political regimes in

the region promoted the advent of sub-regional blocs with ideological

biases. Finally, there is the low intraregional interdependence, resulting

from the generally high dependence on the export of raw materials, hav-

ing adverse eects on national industrialization processes. The lack of

economic complementarity and the technological-industrial decit orient

South American commercial interests outside the region, reducing the

possibilities of interdependence and cooperation.

Between autonomy and development

In the eve of the post-Cold War period, attention was drawn to

what was called a “world of regions” (KATZENSTEIN, 2015) or one of

“regional orders” (LAKE; MORGAN, 2010; SOLINGEN; MALNIGHT,

2016). In Latin America, regionalism has had a long-standing agenda. The

new wave of literature on autonomy is connected to the fact that in Latin

America, the resilience of regionalism is directly linked to the search for

autonomy and development (BRICEÑO-RUIZ; SIMONOFF, 2015). How-

ever, the literature available so far has not been concerned with den-

ing positions of autonomy and development in an order of preference.

In doing so, there are two ideal types of foreign policy strategy towards

regionalism: the rst when autonomy-follows-development, and the second,

when development-follows-autonomy.

The rst type of strategy prioritizes development as a necessary

condition for autonomy. This used to be the dominant regional approach.

Two schools of thought also emerged in distinct periods, which of the

developmentalists, inspired by the “Cepalista” theory and the center/pe-

riphery diagnosis, and that of the (neo)liberals. On the other hand, devel-

Víctor M. Mijares Paradox of Autonomy: Explaining Flaws in South American Security Regionalism

opment through autonomy is associated with the Latin American turn

to the left. However, the preference for one approach or the other has

more than an ideological bias; it also has a material basis, since accelerat-

ed economic growth is capable of encouraging autonomist policies and

behaviors rather than development projects. The turn to the left com-

bined both factors, an assertive ideological package fueled by a boom in

the prices of the raw materials that underpinned the quest for autonomy.

The distinction between the two focuses on the search for autono-

my must be considered to better understand autonomy as a policy and as

a potential paradox. In the absence of a regional hegemony, regionalism

is a collective project with the typical problems of collective action. This

is especially true when it comes to security regionalism. Regionalism

understood under the strategy of autonomy through development, par-

ticularly in the (neo)liberal form, pursues autonomy through economic

cooperation and stability agreements, avoiding regional commitments,

pursuing modest goals and going one step at a time. On the contrary,

the strategy of development through autonomy tends to be expansive

and maximalist in its objectives. Economic cooperation comes in second

place, behind political commitment.

Generally for liberal democracies, growth and development are

priorities, not the expansion of their own regimes and political values

(SANAHUJA, 2009; VAN KLAVEREN, 1997). The opposite is the case

of hybrid and authoritarian regimes, for which autonomy is the priority

within regional projects, as well as the instrumentalization of these for

the diusion and promotion of their own values and political practices

(SÖDERBAUM, 2016). Considering this distinction is fundamental to ad-

dress the specicity of security regionalism and the paradox of autonomy

for secondary regional powers, especially when it comes to super-region-

al orders (super-complexes, following BUZAN and WAEVER (2003), p.

60), such as the Western Hemisphere, in which the traditional main pow-

er promotes liberal values.

Specicity of security regionalism

Few policies are capable of jeopardizing sovereignty and autonomy

that much as defense policy. In a broad sense, interior security policy and

foreign policy are articulated with national defense policy. This broad

set of policies can be attributed to the objectives of the preservation of

national grand strategy. The existential sense of defense policy is, in itself,

an obstacle for supranational security mechanisms, above all when the

potential partners are part of the same region or international subsys-

tem. Security regionalism, which would contemplate the possibility of

some coordination of national defense policies, lies at the base of the basic

needs of states (KELLY, 2007).

Generally, security agreements indicate two widely spread

schemes, collective security and/or collective defense.

Security region-

alism could respond to one or both schemes, but within a common

space, a regional security complex (BUZAN; WÆVER, 2003) within an

international subsystem. To understand why the paradox of autonomy

2. Although similar, collective security

and collective defense should not be

confused with each other. The collective

security scheme assumes the indivisibil-

ity of international security, so that any

aggressive action in the international

system must be deterred or punished.

It is the principle that inspires the UN

Security Council. While the collective

defense scheme refers to the principle

of military alliances, according to which

the threat or attack on one of the allies

will be considered as a threat or attack

on all members of the alliance. NATO

is the best contemporary example of it.

See Robinson (2008, p. 39-41).

estudos internacionais • Belo Horizonte, ISSN 2317-773X, v. 8, n. 1, (abr. 2020), p. 89 - 106

arises, it is necessary to consider that national security and defense is not

simply another area in the range of public sectors. This is especially true

in South America, which as an international subsystem, has developed

in parallel a marked interest in regional autonomy and zeal for national

autonomy. Two phenomena explain the specicity of security regional-

ism in South America, one of a global character and the other rooted in

the geopolitics of the region.

The rst of these phenomena is the limitation of transferring secu-

rity and defense tasks to private actors. Although some South American

states have had problems of territorial control and there is a tendency

among some great powers to privatize security work, the transfer does not

occur as in other sectors of public policy in which private actors assume

core tasks. On one hand, because South American nation-state identities

are linked to territorial integrity (CLAPHAM, 1999; NWEIHED, 1992;

ZACHER, 2001). On the other, the geopolitical reason its link to regional

and national autonomies, there is the latent presence of a superpower

that never occupied any territory of the subcontinent, and the persistence

of territorial tensions, which limited mutual trust, and the generation of

regional cooperation mechanisms for security and defense. These con-

ditions had a parallel eect regarding the search for autonomy in South

America. This is because of it was considered that a goal as important as

development must have the possibility of taking and executing political

decisions without US tutelage. Also, the search for national autonomy

in terms of security, due to intraregional mistrust manifested in histori-

cal territorial tensions and rivalries (DOMINGUEZ, 2003; FRANCHI et

al., 2017; MARES, 2001) and caution facing a potential Brazilian primacy

(FLEMES; WEHNER, 2015).

These regional conditions are at the base of the problems of re-

gional multilateral cooperation in security and defense, emphasizing the

eects of the paradox of autonomy in the security regionalism.

Paradox of autonomy

The paradox of autonomy is an explanatory model with classical

roots within the study of the problems of rational choice and collective

action. Under power de-concentration conditions, bring opportunities

for external action freedom, especially for minor and rising powers. To

gain greater autonomy in a sensitive sector such as that of security and

defense, the states of a region could join eorts to build an alliance or a

security community, which would generate greater autonomy as a bloc.

However, and as in any collective enterprise, the autonomy of each mem-

ber would be adversely aected. This is when the paradox arises. Securi-

ty regional cooperation mechanisms would gain space for their creation

and development, but it is also possible that the incentives for cooperation

distress the growing alternative relationships for individual benet, that

is to say, for national autonomy.

This is a paradox, insofar as the conditions encourage contradicto-

ry outcomes. This, in turn, leads to decision-making crossroads which

become dilemmas. The basic requirement for a dilemma is the presence

Víctor M. Mijares Paradox of Autonomy: Explaining Flaws in South American Security Regionalism

of at least two courses of mutually exclusive action. False dilemmas di-

verge from real ones in the exclusivity-inclusivity dichotomy. Therefore,

a dilemma is false when at least two of an actor’s alternatives could hy-

pothetically be taken at the same time with harmless mutual eects. The

real dilemmas become problematic given the character of politics as a

strategic game, which makes the intentions of the other(s) impossible, as

well as ideological and material changes within a system of the interac-

tions. Thus, uncertainty plays an important role here, as it usually does in

international politics (RATHBUN, 2007). The paradox of autonomy leads

to an autonomy foreign policy dilemma, in which governments face the

decision of choosing between a collective good, such as regional autono-

my, and an individual good, such as national autonomy.

National autonomy frequently assumes distinct forms, from the

nominative and grandiloquent term of “independence”, to the tactical

but inelegant concept of “room to maneuver”. National autonomy on

the international stage presupposes independence and the absence of

control by another power, and goes beyond room to maneuver insofar

as it operates at abstract and complex levels of political strategy. In this

sense, national autonomy is a favorable condition of opportunity and

capability to mobilize resources by national elites to exploit the given

conditions in the search for a better position of international insertion,

preserving legitimate exclusivity in domestic aairs. These conditions

have both internal and external origins. The internal ones refer to the

conditions for resources extraction and mobilization (SCHWELLER,

2009; TALIAFERRO, 2006), while the external ones relate to a particu-

lar international constellation in terms of the distribution of power and

eective patterns of inuence.

National autonomy is associated with territorial, international and

Westphalian sovereignty (KRASNER, 1999). It is conventionally related

to the optimum conditions for the design and conduct of foreign poli-

cy strategies and, as an idea, can historically be traced (AYOOB, 2002).

The case of regional autonomy is dierent, not only in scale, but also in

nature. At the regional level, autonomy can be erroneously understood

as a coordinated aggregation of national autonomies. To avoid that mis-

take, regional autonomy should be understood as the harmonization

of external objectives by virtue of a shared principle and according to

self-imposed regional (supranational) governance, always with the aim

of developing joint abilities to better detect opportunities, coordinate the

mobilization of resources and take advantage of favorable conditions for

collective objectives. Regional autonomy supposes at least one of these

two conditions: a global system of regional blocs in uid interaction, and

a system of great competing powers which should be mutually balanced.

Regional autonomy under the criteria of security regionalism

implies a trade-o, regional security/stability in exchange for national

autonomy. However, accepting such an arrangement entails some pre-

conditions, such as the common denition of perceived external threats,

and/or the establishment of regulation mechanisms to avoid costly in-

traregional conicts. A signicant hierarchization is another route to re-

gional autonomy (LAKE, 2009; LAKE; MORGAN, 2010; LEMKE, 2010;

estudos internacionais • Belo Horizonte, ISSN 2317-773X, v. 8, n. 1, (abr. 2020), p. 89 - 106

VIEIRA; ALDEN, 2011; WOHLFORTH, 1999). Theoretically, a region

under the clear leadership of its central power must be able to implement

a strategy of access control –diplomatic, cultural, economic and/or mil-

itary–facing external powers. Most of the recent literature on emerging

powers has taken for granted the possibility of some isolation of regions

driven by their central powers (BURGES, 2010; FLEMES; WEHNER,

2015; MALAMUD, 2011; NOLTE, 2010; VIEIRA; ALDEN, 2011).

The study of the interaction of regional powers has principally fo-

cused on strategies of contestation and of interaction facing extra-regional

powers. In theory, in a well-structured regional hierarchy, with a func-

tional internal market and an agreement on security and collective de-

fense, regional autonomy could thrive by restricting external inuences

and preserving an autonomous development model. Nevertheless, the

dilemma emerges based on political frictions within the regions. The har-

monization of interests is an arduous task within national elites, and even

more arduous between the ruling elites of various states. International co-

operation is possible when these elites succeed in aligning complementary

interests, or by the external imposition of an eectively hegemonic power.

In addition to the structural capabilities relating to its periphery, a

regional power must be capable of sustaining a strategy of denial of ac-

cess, or at least be capable of fullling the function of manger of regional

access facing external powers. Paradoxically, systemic conditions those

are likely to foster the rise of regional powers, can also do this in the

cases of secondary and minor powers, encouraging foreign policy strate-

gies that could include the launch or strengthening of bilateral relations

both inside and outside their regions. This would contain the grounds for

intraregional tensions and rivalries, not only in terms of economic rela-

tions, but also in the collective management of regional security.

Theoretical grounds

The explanatory model of the paradox of autonomy is based on

the theoretical developments that give it form and content. Strongly an-

chored to the rational theoretical framework of international politics, the

model has intellectual debts, which could be summarized in six pillars:

the South American theory of autonomy; the theory of sovereignty; col-

lective action theory; the security dilemma in multipolar conditions; the

security dilemma in alliances; and the model of alliance restraint.

1.Autonomy theory

The paradox of autonomy mainly lies on the South American the-

ory of autonomy. The early emancipatory movement of Latin America,

the type of colonial model of the region and the geopolitical conditions

of South America are the three factors, which combine to make autono-

my the original and persistent objective of the foreign policies of South

American states. On one hand, the Latin American emancipation was

part of a larger political and intellectual process of global reach, which

combined Enlightenment principles with the decline of the pre-industrial

Víctor M. Mijares Paradox of Autonomy: Explaining Flaws in South American Security Regionalism

empires. In the newcomer states, rstly in Hispanic America then later in

Brazil, this generated the necessity for an international insertion, which

preserved freedom of action, both against the old metropolis and imperi-

alism in the process of industrialization.

The Iberian colonial model was also key in the construction of an

Ibero-American political identity claiming for autonomy. Unlike the al-

most exclusively extractivist models imposed in Asia and, above all, in

Africa, by industrial empires, the preindustrial Iberian empires used a

form of conquest and colonization which incorporated the new politi-

cal-territorial components as integral parts of the empires themselves

(BOERSNER, 1982; GUERRA, 2011). Hence, the international insertion

of the new republics, and of the Brazilian empire, has been from the out-

set a legitimate necessity and on an equal footing in the conditions of the

international concert of the nineteenth. Geopolitics also played a role in

the early and persistent thirst for autonomy. The continental dimensions,

the predominant coastal occupation of the South American territory, and

the rise of the US in the hemisphere, generated the duality of relative-

ly low contacts with limited continental interdependence. Additionally,

boundary conicts where there is greater contact, and reserved coop-

eration facing Washington, fueled by military interventions in Central

America and the Caribbean basin (TEIXEIRA, 2012).

The paradox of autonomy includes in the debate the classical “de-

cisional autonomy” (JAGUARIBE, 1979; PUIG, 1986) and the later deni-

tion of “relational autonomy” (RUSSELL; TOKATLIAN, 2002). The rst

form of autonomy refers to freedom of decision, but also of political ac-

tion. It consists of the expansion of the external room to maneuver in the

sense of aspiration for international insertion motivated by the historical

and geopolitical factors already mentioned. The second form of auton-

omy, relational, poses cooperation between equals as a condition for its

realization (RUSSELL; TOKATLIAN, 2002). It corresponds to a distinct

historical moment in which the impetus for integration would have been

reached after the regional democratic settlement and changes in geostrat-

egy and the distribution of capabilities in the international system.

This debate is central to the paradox of autonomy, but it retakes it in

a non-sequential historical sense, neither epistemological, nor paradigmatic

–that of the transition from decisional to relational autonomy, but rather dia-

lectical, to say, its opposition to the generation of a political dilemma. This is

evident in the resistance of national autonomy in an area of high political im-

pact for states: security and national defense policy. When this resistance co-

incides with the interest to coordinate security and defense policies oriented

at gaining greater autonomy as a group, that is when the interest in relational

autonomy is manifested, and when the paradox of autonomy is presented.

2.Westphalian sovereignty

An explanatory model of South American international relations must

consider the regional propensity for a conventional conception of sovereign-

ty and territorial integrity. The Hispanic South American states were born

bound to the principle of uti possidetis iuris, making territorial integrity a sub-

estudos internacionais • Belo Horizonte, ISSN 2317-773X, v. 8, n. 1, (abr. 2020), p. 89 - 106

stantial part of national identities. The historical experience of the region is not

without interstate violence (MARES, 2001; MARTÍN, 2006; THIES, 2008), but

it is much less severe than that of Europe, and the level of perceived external

threats is substantially less (BATTAGLINO, 2012). Moreover, the region is not

in the immediate military reach of great powers beyond the US. Westphalian

sovereignty is a central component in understanding the paradox of autono-

my. Autonomist tensions take place when governments dier in the degree

of sovereign exclusivity in defense and national security policies, especially if

territorial disputes persist, or if ideological aggravating factors emerge.

3.Collective action theory

The central presumption of the explanatory model of the paradox

of autonomy is that it is a collective action problem. The basis of the ex-

planation of its logical mechanisms can be found in the “tragedy of the

commons” (HARDIN, 2009; OLSON, 1965; OSTROM, 2015). The trage-

dy is centered in the tension between individual interests and collective

goods. Following instrumentally rational strategies, individuals –as well

as foreign policy executives, especially those dominated by strong lead-

ers in presidentialist regimes– can pursue and achieve their own objec-

tives, even though they negatively aect collective aspirations and goals

in the process. The paradox of autonomy confronts national autonomy

and regional autonomy, establishing the resemblance to the tragedy of

the commons. But the similarity is not perfect, as the tragedy of the com-

mons assumes that the common good is of equal benet for all individ-

uals involved, and although it is true that regional autonomy has been a

solid South American objective, it is not clear to what extent it has been a

method for achieving a more valuable national autonomy.

Given that the model of the paradox of autonomy is especially designed

for the sensitive sector of regional security, individual interests tend to be

more resilient due to the existential nature of national security and defense. In

the paradox of autonomy, the similarities between the “commons” are more

ontological than operational, as governments take care of what they consider

to be best for their societies and are more willing to sabotage formally shared

goals. However, under conditions of international deconcentration of power,

which are prone to encouraging the possibilities of national autonomy, secu-

rity regionalism can be damaged, but unlike the tragedy of the commons, not

necessarily destroyed as a common good. The paradox of autonomy could

(re)shape the institutional design of security regionalism, partially preserving

the shared objectives. And if liberal institutionalism has taught us anything,

it is that, with all its limitations and without knowing with certainty to what

extent, institutions are capable of moderating political behavior.

4.Security dilemma

The two main branches of structural realism, the defensive and

the oensive, are distinguished by what they assume to be the primary

objective of the state in international politics: maximize its security or

its power. This debate has consumed years of research without having

Víctor M. Mijares Paradox of Autonomy: Explaining Flaws in South American Security Regionalism

a clearer conclusion than the armation that, sometimes, greater pow-

er oers security, while in other moments it stimulates threats. This is

the content of the security dilemma, an explanatory model of which the

paradox of autonomy is also a subsidiary. The security dilemma (HERZ,

1950; JERVIS, 1978) exposes the potentially conictive relationship be-

tween national security and international security. It assumes that one of

the principal mechanisms to strengthen national security, if not the prin-

cipal one, is the strengthening and/or rening of military capabilities.

This is generally recorded in increases in defense budgets and/or military

exercises. The result, according to the dilemma, is that in trying to guar-

antee its own security, the state puts its neighbors and other potential

rivals on alert to what they could see as a threat, negatively aecting

international security.

The debt of the paradox of autonomy to the security dilemma is

evident. The potential conict of individual and collective interests is

present, as well as the tension between unilaterality and bi- or multi-lat-

erality. However, the dierences are also clear. Firstly, the security di-

lemma works at a tactical-operative level of national defense. Although

this has strategic implications, it does not compare to the ramications

that the model of the paradox of autonomy assumes to exist in the search

for room to maneuver, national defense and the freedom of sovereign

action in domestic politics, due to the already mentioned supremacy of

Westphalian sovereignty. Secondly, it is even further removed from the

structural realist debate between oensive and defensive realisms, inso-

much as it focuses on secondary powers rather than great powers. The

makes the paradox of autonomy part of peripheral realism (SCHENONI;

ESCUDÉ, 2016) or subaltern realism (AYOOB, 2002). Thirdly, and as a

corollary of the two previous dierences, the paradox of autonomy does

not result in drastic eects such as armament spirals, arms races, or war,

but rather in more, or less, signicant limitations in the reach of regional

security institutions.

5.Security dilemma in alliances

A pillar of the model of the paradox of autonomy is the security

dilemma in alliances (SNYDER, 1997). According to this, those respon-

sible for foreign policy of allied states can experience one of two fears.

Firstly, the fear of abandonment, when their allies do not follow a course

of collective action facing a threat, or do not assume an active role. This

behavior could be attributed to the existence of more attractive material

alternatives, intergovernmental ideological empathy with the third party

perceived as a threat, or to avoid tangible or ideological costs. Secondly,

the fear of commitment, which arises when the commitment to balance is

not aligned with one’s own interests, or when it could even result in dam-

age. As a rule, the lesser the asymmetry, the more probable the dilemma.

Thus, periods when international power is deconcentrated and asymme-

tries tend to ease, are likely to aect the commitment within an alliance.

The security dilemma in alliances is another example of a collec-

tive action problem, in which a conictive mechanism can be seen be-

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estudos internacionais • Belo Horizonte, ISSN 2317-773X, v. 8, n. 1, (abr. 2020), p. 89 - 106

tween distinct individual interests and the collective objective. Thus, it

maintains similarity with the paradox of autonomy, but they dier in the

phase in which they arise. While in the security dilemma in alliances the

collective action problem appears after the creation of a reciprocal as-

sistance agreement, threatening trust between the allies, in the paradox

of autonomy the problem appears before the formalization of the agree-

ment, threatening trust between potential partners and aecting the in-

stitutional design of the founding treaty. The dierence is important be-

cause the former is an operational problem for established and operative

alliances, or those with aspirations to operationality, and the second, a

problem in the process of forming regional security agreements. Thus,

the paradox of autonomy is an obstacle for an “operational alliance” (MI-

JARES, 2011; MORGENTHAU, 2005) before it has been established.

6.Alliance restraining

A secondary theoretical source is the alliance restraint. According

to this model, some alliances may not be oriented to counterbalancing

power or threats, nor be mechanisms for the pursuit of interests, but rath-

er mechanisms of mutual or unilateral control (PRESSMAN, 2008). As

foreign policy tactics, moderation alliance agreements are measures to

avoid involvement in an undesired conict due to the commitment of

assistance, or to control the behavior of a potential rival who is oered co-

operation. This tactic usually functions under conditions of broad asym-

metry between (potential) allies, with the greater ally being provider of

security, which reduces the uncertainty of the minor ally. Between states

of similar hierarchical position, alliances of restraint may present opera-

tional problems, unless they are generated in a multilateral format, closer

to that of collective security, as has been shown during decades of the

ve-power mechanism of the UN Security Council. In any case, being

part of a security agreement is in itself a restriction on one’s own auton-

omy, and can always lead to paradoxes and, at the same time, dilemmas.

The explanatory model

The main hypothesis of the paradox of autonomy is rooted in the

tradition of rational choice, to a large extent shared by the (neo)liberal and

(neo)realist theories of IR. However, it diers from the realist approach,

centered on power, because instead of assuming the search for power

(classical realism and oensive realism) or security (defensive realism), it

assumes the search for freedom of action or the reduction of obstacles and

external interference. In this explanatory model, actions take place at the

national and regional analytical levels, but the causal condition originates

at the international systemic level. Just as great powers in the internation-

al system could be motivated by pre-eminence, primacy, or even hegemo-

ny, lesser powers maintain more modest objectives, centered above all on

national development and autonomy. Some tend towards a mixed search,

especially emerging regional powers (NOLTE, 2010), seeking indisput-

able leadership in their region while improving their industrialization and

101

Víctor M. Mijares Paradox of Autonomy: Explaining Flaws in South American Security Regionalism

trying to create peripheral markets and security communities (ADLER;

GREVE 2009). To achieve these goals, the search for power and autono-

my are combined in a great national strategy. The following table pres-

ents a typology of states classied according to their status and objectives:

Chart 1 - Types of state and their expected objectives

Typology of state Predicted objective(s)

Great powers Global hegemony, primacy or pre-eminence

Emerging regional powers Regional hegemony, regional autonomy and national development

Secondary regional powers

(or sub-regional powers)

National autonomy and development (the order may vary).

Regional autonomy in instrumental terms

Small states National development

Own elaboration

The dynamics of power concentration/de-concentration in the in-

ternational system tend to be less stable than those of polarity (MANS-

FIELD, 1993). Let’s say, a multipolar order could be, at the same time, one

with a high concentration of power, which would imply that, although

there are many poles, these would concentrate the majority of material

capabilities. Inversely, a uni- or bipolar international constellation could

be far from being a hegemonic system if it is also deconcentrated, or in

other words, if the gaps of power are unimportant or diminishing. An

international system in de-concentration creates conditions for autono-

my insofar as it undermines the material primacy of the great powers.

The process of compensatory economic growth facilitates the diusion

of technologies, while confronting trade and security hegemonies.

At the regional level, emerging powers could be inclined to take ad-

vantage of the improvement in their capabilities to guard their own zones,

thus assuring their hegemony in international subsystems. However, they

could face challenges on two fronts. Firstly, that of external powers, both

established and emerging, trying to enter the region through bilateral

contacts and avoiding the regional power, and secondly, that of secondary

regional powers which could support the project of regional autonomy for

utilitarian purposes, wanting to take advantage of the pluralist order and

preserve both their national autonomy and their own development plan.

Chart 2 - Interaction of Polarity/Concentration:

typology of International (Sub-)Systems

Polarity

Concentration (CON)

High (>.4) Medium (.4-.3) Low (<.3)

Unipolar Hegemony Primacy Pre-eminence

Bipolar Diarchy Dyadic System Dialogical System

Tripolar Triumvirate Triadic System Trialogical System

Multipolar Polyarchy Pluricentric System Anarchy

Souce: own elaboration

Regional autonomy and national autonomies coincide harmonious-

ly for the elites of central regional powers, but not for those of secondary

powers. For the latter, regional autonomy implies a concession in free-

3. Regarding that, chart 2 presents an

own elaboration proposal of a typology

of international (sub-)systems.

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estudos internacionais • Belo Horizonte, ISSN 2317-773X, v. 8, n. 1, (abr. 2020), p. 89 - 106

dom of action and the acceptance of external limitations. The paradox

of autonomy takes place at the regional level under global conditions of

de-concentration of power. This implies the conict between the central

regional power, which seeks to construct a bloc to guarantee regional

autonomy, and for its own hegemonic role, and the secondary regional

powers, which would partially support regional autonomy while this is of

use for their national autonomy and own development. The dilemma is

presented for the latter, as for their elites there is the possibility of a func-

tional separation between regional autonomy and national autonomies.

In other words, the elites of the secondary powers in a deconcentrated

system will try to encourage as much national autonomy as possible and

regional autonomy as is necessary, always with the aim of not empowering

the central regional power beyond what is manageable.

Effects of the paradox on security regionalism

The security dilemma predicts potential contradictions between

national security and defense policies, and international security, due

to the possibility of provoking arms races within action-reaction ratio-

nale (JERVIS, 1978). Regional autonomy could be considered an essential

national objective for a central regional power (MEARSHEIMER, 2001;

NOLTE, 2010). This is particularly true in the South American interna-

tional subsystem, due to the gap in capabilities of Brazil and its potential,

but not eective, regional hegemony. Like other (re)emerging regional

powers, Brazil had problems in making its relative power a true hegemo-

ny. Such powers experience a problem of state capacity—in the extraction

and mobilization of resources—given the interaction of its physical and

human dimensions, and its unequal industrial and bureaucratic develop-

ment, in addition to regional counterbalancing policies from neighbors,

anxious to preserve their national autonomies, whether through intra-

regional cooperation or inviting external powers.

The paradox of autonomy is problematized given that the main

condition, which facilitates the collective search for regional autonomy,

is the same that conditions the search for national autonomy: the inter-

national power concentration pattern. For the majority of South Ameri-

can governments in the early 21

century, keeping the region out of the

direct inuence of the US was a shared interest. Brazilian regional hege-

mony would be unachievable if Washington played a hegemonic role in

the sensitive areas of security and defense policy. The limits of regional

security cooperation began to become evident with the open opposition

of Uribe’s Colombia to the original institutional design of the CDS, based

on the special Colombia-US relationship in the defense and security sec-

tor (TICKNER, 2008).

Less obvious, but not less eective, obstacles were put forward by

the secondary powers that embraced the original Brazilian project. Ar-

gentina, Chile and Venezuela supported the CDS, and assumed it as part

of their political priorities. However, a security and defense agreement

openly led by Brazil would have been a restriction on the objectives of

the national elites. The delicate balance between regional autonomy and

103

Víctor M. Mijares Paradox of Autonomy: Explaining Flaws in South American Security Regionalism

national autonomies plays an important role for South American sec-

ondary powers given that national autonomy is a necessary condition

for soft-balancing policies towards Brazil (FLEMES; WEHNER, 2015),

and thus, keeping regional hegemony at bay while preserving freedom

of action in terms of security and defense. Similarly, the idea of regional

autonomy was considered in order to block and soft-balancing US global

pre-eminence and its overwhelming hemispheric hegemony.

Another equally important goal for some secondary powers was

to pacify border disputes and avoid militarized escalations. This is par-

ticularly true in the cases of Chile and Colombia, and more recently

Peru, whose economic policy strategies demonstrate clear guidelines

for opening and whose governments are liberal democracies, but who

bear the weight of unresolved territorial conicts and have a relatively

high military spending as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP)

(SIPRI, 2019) and important arsenals (IISS, 2019). A regional security

agreement is likely to promote regional autonomy and limit the nation-

al, taking as a counterweight the reduction of border tensions, which

would permit the strengthening of regional integration and redirect

part of the national defense budget towards economic and social invest-

ment, for example. In this sense, the paradox of autonomy ts in with

the old dilemma of opportunity cost, illustrated with the dichotomy

of “guns versus butter” model of the production possibility frontier.

Thus, regional autonomy could partially benet the interests of nation-

al elites, although it could negatively aect the primary objective of

secondary powers: national autonomy.

The dismemberment of UNASUR, and with it the CDS, took place

in May 2018, when half of its members, including some of the most prom-

inent, decided to participate. The changes have become factors for this

regional disintegration, linked to the ideological tensions originated in

the changes of government, to an extremely lax institutional design, but

also to the paradoxical eect of the autonomy tensions (BARACALDO

ORJUELA; CHENOU, 2018; MIJARES, 2018; MIJARES; NOLTE, 2018).

Conclusion

The development of the research agenda on the theory of auton-

omy must be taken through challenges. This article has referred to two

of those, contributing to the encouragement of further progress. The

main challenge is the conceptual denition of autonomy, to overcome

the lack of agreement on what this means in the broad context of inter-

national politics, and in particular, in the study of regional security and

security regionalism. The denitions of national autonomy and regional

autonomy, proposed in parallel, reveal the possibility of a paradox with

dilemmatic potential, undoing the Gordian knot of the debate between

decisional autonomy and relational autonomy. However, while solving

the conceptual problem, this shows an analytical and political problem

which, until now, has not been dealt with.

Thus, the second challenge presented and confronted by this work

is the problematization of the theory of autonomy. In fact, that was the

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main task of the article. The rst step towards a compilation and reor-

ganization of ideas about autonomy was taken by Rivarola Puntigliano

and Briceño-Ruiz (2013), connecting autonomy with regionalism and de-

velopment, and relating it to ideological orientations and foreign policy

strategies (GARDINI; LAMBERT, 2011). In this work, steps were taken

in both directions, developing the research program on autonomy. First-

ly, it proposed a distinction between national, or individual, autonomy

and regional autonomy, or collective, autonomy. Secondly, it explained

their potentially conictive relationship. Therefore, the paradox of au-

tonomy and its dilemma does not contravene current advances in the

theory of autonomy; on the contrary, it expands the research agenda and

increases its complexity, instrumentalizing it as a conceptual tool to un-

derstand security regionalization processes under conditions of global

power deconcentration.

What the recent South American experience indicates is that the

dilemma produced by the paradox of autonomy, in the case of security

regionalism, is not unsolvable. The circumstantial evidence suggests that

in the case of the creation of the CDS the paradox was present, being

resolved through the rational and multilateral manipulation of the insti-

tutional design. The paradox that the diusion of power encourages both

national and regional autonomy was reinforced by the limits on regional

leadership, an eect that could also have among its causes the de-concen-

tration of capabilities. These lessons continue to be preliminary ndings,

which must be explored to establish the existence of causality. Howev-

er, the relationships between the consequences and the assumed causes

stand out, and this study opens a path which the research agenda can

follow in the future.

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