ABSTRACT
This chapter examines defence politics and regional security co-operation within Latin America, in the context of the current international security environment. It focuses on two very different responses within the hemisphere: Venezuela’s move towards the left and its further distancing from US regional security interests, and Colombia’s move to the right and its further alignment of its defence politics agenda towards that of the United States. The chapter offers a brief examination of an area of interest as a sub-regional response to the US ‘Global War on Terrorism’, by looking at the Tri-Border Area (TBA) where the countries of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil converge. The Tri-Border Area, or TBA, lies at the centre of the debate over the existence of terrorist groups in Latin America. The chapter looks at regional security co-operation based on the notion of shared threat perceptions and defence strategies, and the influence approaches have had on defence politics of various nations in the Americas.
