English School and Constructivism

FEDERICO MERKE

Routledge Handbook of Latin American Security Studies

Routledge

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2015; p. 88 - 98

The English School and the Constructivist approach offer important insights into the transformation of state security interests from a non-materialist standpoint in the Latin American context. The chapter presents the core elements of English school and constructivism and examine their contributions to the study of regional security. Merke explores how these contributions can illuminate security dynamics in Latin America. A rich research agenda is proposed. The English school could explore the extent to which militarization may be examined as a regional institution somehow replacing war. Constructivism may shed some light on enduring rivalries in Latin America and how territorial conflicts become embedded in symbolic conflicts that cut to the heart of national identity; the analytical challenge is to demonstrate that even the most power-driven interstate relations are also to some degree socially constructed. We need more empirical studies to gain better understanding of how norms, institutions, and ideas shape security interests. Both approaches should examine more difficult terrains to test their hypotheses, using a richer array of methods and a multiplicity of sources, including raw data, theoretical works, and the literature on the region to unearth the interplay between structure and agency in Latin American security studies. Studies on narcoterrorism, organized international crime, arms smuggling, insurgencies, and security crises derived from large scale migration may reinvigorate Constructivism and the English school.