Defence market Latin America--economic and political pressures force decline.

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Defence market Latin America--economic and political pressures force decline.

In looking at the various defence marketplaces around the world, perception often clouds reality. For example, there has always been a view that Latin America is one of the great defence markets, arguably that ideal was true thirty years ago but now it is in relative decline. That is not to suggest that military spending is in freefall, it is still at a significant level. However, the ability of the majority of Latin American nations to purchase state-of-the-art military equipment is no longer a major factor in the calculations of most defence equipment suppliers.

The purpose of this article is to look at the current state of the Latin American defence marketplace through focusing on a number of key regional nations. The nations covered are Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela, traditionally the key defence markets in South America. Apart from looking at the status of their military forces, we will also evaluate their current and future defence plans. In addition, we will also endeavour to look at their political and economic situations to define the pressures that are influencing the evolution of their national military forces.

The past fifty years have seen many dramatic changes in the course of Latin American affairs, yet the legacies of the past, in many cases, unwelcome, still have an impact on the present. Argentina provides an excellent example of the social and economic pressures that have defined the evolution of nation states in Latin America. In the case of Argentina it was an issue of possibilities being squandered.

From the promulgation of the Argentine constitution in 1853 until 1916, the Conservative forces were dominant. After 1916, the Radicals came to power and sought to develop democratic institutions and free and fair elections to expand the political franchise to the growing middle class and to other groups who had been alienated from the government. The Radical Party continued to rule until 1930, when, after a military coup they were deposed and replaced by the Conservatives. Social changes in Argentina, such as the evolution of an urban working class and labour unions, meant that the ...

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