Latin American Foreign Policies towards the Middle East

Actors, Contexts, and Trends

Marta Tawil Kuri

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781137601308
• eBook ISBN: 9781137599391
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This volume surveys the interplay between state and non-state actors in Latin American foreign policies and attitudes towards the Middle East in the twenty-first century. How will domestic instability and international tensions affect the choices and behavior of Latin American countries towards the Arab world? The chapters here offer insight into this and similar questions, as well as a comparative value in analyzing countries beyond those specifically discussed. Common topics in policy making are considered–namely, Israel and Palestine, Iran, the Gulf countries, and the Arab "Spring"–as authors from distinct disciplines examine the crucial relation between ends and means on the one hand, and foreign policy actions and context on the other.

© The Author(s) 2016

Marta Tawil Kuri (ed.)Latin American Foreign Policies towards the Middle EastMiddle East Today10.1057/978-1-137-59939-1_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Marta Tawil Kuri¹

(1)

El Colegio de Mexico, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico, Mexico

End Abstract

The present volume’s general aim is to interrogate about how the Arab world and the Middle East ¹ might contribute to the understanding of the foreign policy processes and choices of Latin American governments during approximately the past fifteen years. The foreign policy motivations and decisions of ten Latin American countries—Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica—are examined through the general analytical framework of the agency–structure problem in foreign policy analysis, as well as by considerations concerning economic interdependence. Even though this contribution does not elaborate on a theoretical or philosophical level, all authors offer a preliminary glance at the dynamic interplay between the visions, goals, and interests of state and non-state actors in the aforementioned Latin American countries. ² The authors highlight, where possible, the behavior and implementation by adopting a more strategic–relational approach, that is to say, by showing the synergies between the actors’ own strategies on the one hand and context or environment with its constraints and opportunities on the other hand. We are all requested to show this interplay at the material level and also, when pertinent, to indicate how it is mediated by the role of ideas and discourses, perspective, and economic interests of the individual actors.

Beyond Ideology and Pragmatism

When the idea for this edited volume first emerged, panelists participating at the World Congress in Ankara were asked a set of questions related to how they would conceive the dichotomy of ideology and pragmatism in their assessment of Latin American countries’ relations with the Middle East. It was a pertinent concern not only because our reading of Gian Luca Gardini and Peter Lambert’s work—Latin American Foreign Policies. Between Ideology and Pragmatism—had been intellectually inspiring but also because it had been common for a while among journalists and academics to sustain that the rapprochement toward the Middle East, and particularly Iran and the Arab world, by a majority of Latin American countries, is best explained by the rise of power of leftist parties in those countries over the past fifteen years. However, feedback among the authors of the present volume prompted further discussion and adjustments to the framework and contents, and it was recognized that such dichotomy ideology versus pragmatism was not inaccurate per se but rather that it did not necessarily capture the multitude of factors that one has to look at to better grasp the choices, processes, and outcomes of the Latin American countries under examination. Therefore, we decided to preserve that dichotomy if only as part and parcel of a wide range of analytical possibilities.

Not only do we not have to reach a definite assessment of whether one’s choice is ideological or pragmatic but also we can go beyond that dichotomy. Thus, even though the chapters of this volume were not asked to answer the question whether the booming relations between Latin America and the Arab world have been necessarily an inevitable product of the so-called Pink Tide, some authors qualify the common assessment of whether the choices and behavior toward the Middle East of their countries under consideration could indeed have been a question of a government being on the “right” or “left” side of the political spectrum.

Throughout the volume, the reader is reminded that ideology is not related to specific positions on the political spectrum. Governments deemed more “ideological” make decisions on the basis of their actual viability and usefulness—contrary to what is normally assumed or expected from the notion “ideology”, and from them. In other words, some of the authors who introduced dichotomy either question it to some extent or interpret it through different lenses. Furthermore, ideology and pragmatism, when included in our chapters, are supposed to shed light on other dualities. Thus, for instance, the diversification of trade partners should not be automatically interpreted as a manifestation of pragmatism but as the result of an antiimperialist project, a vociferous (rhetorical) opposition to the USA; accordingly, the repudiation of particular sets of “western” values might hide a pragmatic agenda and so on.

Considering that in recent years some Latin American countries have adopted or attempted to adopt more assertive and independent foreign policy positions, several authors from the academia, as well as observers and commentators of international politics, assume that the search for autonomy would reflect a rejection of neoliberalism and US hegemony. That appreciation has not been properly justified and nuanced so far. Because of its peculiarities and dynamics (of conflict and other), the Middle East represents a “laboratory” to prove if it is indeed the case: to reveal whether the search of assertiveness is a permanent (structural) feature of Latin American foreign policies of the new millennium or a contingent (temporary) one and what it means. More importantly, our research can reveal altogether whether the duality between pragmatism and ideology is unique when it comes to the Middle East or is a defining element of any foreign policy, regardless of the topic or region concerned. Our analysis also qualifies the traditional analyses (most of them based on realism) of Latin American foreign policies, which give structural factors—the USA—a decisive influence.

This volume modestly aims to fill a gap in the existing literature on Latin American behavior toward the Middle East (Arab countries, Iran, and Israel). In the 2000s, a number of works appeared that together generate an understanding of the relations among Latin America, the Middle East, and the Arab world: valuable contributions which study connections between a specific Latin American country or subregion (e.g., the Southern Cone) and the Middle East, framed within the narrative of South–South Relations, transnationalism, global culture, and international relations; ³ works about the relations between Latin America and various Gulf nations; ⁴ and those which explore the political and economic ties that are being developed between both regions. ⁵ Other works have focused on relations and dynamics among specific countries in both Latin America and the Middle East with the aim to properly acknowledge their capacity to become agents of action; ⁶ others have aimed at contributing to a further development of relations between the two regions: one by concentrating on general interregional relations ⁷ and other by focusing more on contemporary events, especially inter-governmental relations between the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. ⁸

However, not all the works mentioned above and others which I could not properly mention without running the risk of being repetitive—Kevin Funk in his chapter reviews the substantial body of literature on Arab–Latin American relations carefully and in more detail—deal specifically with the foreign policies of Latin American countries; when they do, they focus on the policies of the big, more internationally active Latin American states (for instance, Brazil). ⁹ Instead, our study offers a survey of several Latin America’s choices vis-à-vis the Middle East and adopts, from an interdisciplinary perspective, an approach of foreign policy as a process and an outcome.

We identify common topics or a set of interrelated concerns in policy making in the nine aforementioned countries that are more loosely tied to other sets of interrelated concerns: namely the Israel–Palestine question, Iran, Gulf countries, and the Arab “Spring”. We also identify similar domestic actors: parties, leaders, diasporas, capitalist agents (not necessarily of Arab or Jewish descent), type of government, constitutional powers, as well as international actors: regional state and non-state actors, the USA, Russia, European countries, and international organizations. The range of case studies does not attempt to be a full coverage of the region. The selection of the nine case studies is inspired by their relative regional importance as well as their significance to the analytical tools adopted in the book.

In this volume, we try to cover appropriate case studies in order to outline patterns, comparisons, commonalities, and differences among the foreign policies of the countries analyzed, which have defined their relationship with Middle Eastern countries. We focus on current developments within the past decade or so until the present, with appropriate attention to the historic context in each country, in order to understand whether contemporary foreign policies toward the Middle East in Latin America represent a clear break from the past, whether certain states have policies that are consistent over time, or indeed whether aspects of changes and continuity coexist. It is also a volume that in a cross-cutting manner attempts a very first glimpse at the Middle Eastern countries’ choices and own dilemmas in their dealings with Latin America.

Following, and adapting, Natalia Saltalamacchia’s methodological scheme, ¹⁰ two complementary analytical strategies to explain the foreign policies of Latin American countries toward the Middle East can be suggested: one strategy relates to the discipline of International Relations and the other belongs to the field of comparative foreign policy analysis. In the first case, states are taken as units of analysis, and they are assumed to be part of a regional and global system of relations which influence and condition their external behavior to some extent. The task in this case is to identify elements at an international level—systemic or regional—that conditioned the choices of Latin American countries in the past decade. It includes diverse factors such as the role of international structures (power, economy, and ideology) and of international actors (great powers, international organizations, and non-state actors). The second strategy refers to the comparative analysis of the political systems of Latin American countries. The focus is on domestic variables, which have facilitated the formulation and implementation of specific policies toward Middle Eastern issues, crises, and actors.

The above approach corresponds to the levels of analysis employed in International Relations research and to the agency–structure dichotomy within the subfield of foreign policy analysis. They all serve the purpose of outlining the importance of the individual, state and systemic levels of analysis, although not all the authors explicitly set them out as their theoretical framework of analysis. As chapters demonstrate, the relative weight of each level varies by country and circumstance. ¹¹ The individual level focuses on the importance or weight of the personality, style, worldview, method of work, and so on of individual leaders, namely, presidents or prime ministers, and ministers of foreign affairs. In terms of the state, we can also examine the role of domestic political institutions, such as legislatures, political parties, and civil society organizations, or to discern the impact of state or societal institutions in the formulation of foreign policy. Furthermore, leaders have been known to use foreign policies to promote domestic agendas and vice versa. Finally, the authors distinguish how key systemic factors such as the structure of the global system, the role of international governmental and nongovernmental actors, and dominant values or norms of the international system (i.e., democracy and economic neoliberalism) which might be or have been determinant in shaping foreign policy options and processes.

The organization of the book follows a geographical pattern. It begins with a discussion of utilizing existing literature to recover the overlooked history of Arab–Latin American relations in order to provide a general framework for comprehending current issues in Arab–Latin American relations and also historicizes International Relations’ more general marginalization of South...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Frontmatter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. How Latin America Met the Arab World: Toward a Political Economy of Arab–Latin American Relations
• 3. Brazil’s Relations with Middle Eastern Countries: A Diplomacy in Search for Constancy (2003–2014)
• 4. Chilean Foreign Policy Toward Arab Countries: Between Trade Diplomacy and the Affirmation of Principles
• 5. Multipolarity Under Construction: New Paths and Difficult Balances in the Argentina–Middle East Relation During the Kirchner Governments
• 6. Venezuela and the Middle East Under Hugo Chávez (1999–2013): Strategic Continuities and Ideological Preferences
• 7. Colombian Fragile Foreign Relations with the Middle East: Vested Interests, 2000–2014
• 8. Ecuador and the Middle East: Counter-Hegemony, Anti-interventionism and Sovereign Wealth Funds
• 9. Bolivia’s Foreign Policy Toward the Middle East (2000–2015): Promoting a Populist and Radical Agenda Abroad
• 10. Between Continuity and Change: Relations Between Costa Rica and the Middle East
• 11. Nicaraguan Foreign Policy Toward the Middle East
• 12. Mexico’s Policy Toward the Middle East: From Equidistance to Distance
• 13. Conclusions
• Backmatter