ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Cold War, Latin America has enjoyed a prolonged period of limited regional tension. With the exception of the 1995 Alto-Cenepa War between Ecuador and Peru there have been no interstate conflicts and the region has seen the development of several initiatives aimed at economic and security co-operation and integration. Most of the interstate disputes over border demarcation that have led to conflict in previous years were resolved (Arévalo de León 2002, 14). Following prolonged periods of extensive militarization during the many military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s, defence spending remained low and activity in the global arms market was limited as new civilian governments sought to assert control over defence policies.
