Building Peace Without Power Politics: Latin America’s Diplomatic Model

Poverty. Corruption. Institutional weakness. Drug trafficking. These are some of the most popular topics on which most works focused on Latin America tend to be based. These analyses ended up creating logic in the global collective imagination, a vision that is not only incomplete but also unfair. Even in its relegated, third-world position, Latin America has commendable virtues and strengths, something very valuable to offer the world, such as high capacity for mediation, constant humanitarian participation, prolonged regional cooperation and integration.

To understand this contribution, key concepts such as “peace,” “order,” and “cooperation” must be revisited, with the Global South understood here through Latin American experiences, which offer essential insights.

Álvarez (2022) states that Latin America is often identified as one of the most violent regions in the world due not only to organized crime but also to the presence of common crime. While these statements reflect part of the reality, they ignore another part, which is the efforts made to build peace and consolidate internal strategies to promote peaceful coexistence (Arias et al., 2024). It was through the blows of dictatorships, economic challenges, and social crises that the territory managed to develop resilience and solidarity to develop practices and strategies capable of peacefully resolving conflicts.

The world today finds itself in a very delicate situation. Conflicts are the order of the day. According to the latest Global Peace Index 2025 report by the Institute for Economics and Peace, there are currently around seventy-eight countries involved in fifty-nine active armed conflicts. This, once again exposes the erosion of liberal order in addressing problems.

While all these conflicts have renewed calls for the restoration of peace, achieving this through traditional models will undoubtedly prove difficult, as those frameworks themselves have come under serious scrutiny. Thus, I believe the notion of liberal hegemony is one that we must now leave behind. In line with these developments, Acharya (2017) asserts that a hegemon is neither necessary nor sufficient to regenerate the global order.

In recent work by Hirst et al. (2024), the authors point out that new spaces have opened for actors in the global South because of a more flexible international system. However, discussions on global issues still revolve around the responses of Western modernity (Mignolo, 2011). Although International Relations originated in English-speaking countries, their object of study and theories have continually reflected the perspectives of the dominant powers (Acharya & Buzan, 2019).

The idea is not to replace one vision with another, but to achieve a pluralistic universalism that is truly grounded in authentic world history (Acharya & Buzan, 2019).

To overcome the constraints of these colonial and postcolonial approaches, we must raise the debate between Eurocentric productions and those of the global South (Arias Díaz et al., 2024).

These visions differ on several points, but undoubtedly the most representative is the way they interpret sovereignty in Latin America, especially regarding interventions and peace operations.

In the region, the concept of respect for the sovereignty of states over their territory prevails. This principle of the inviolability of borders has allowed cohesion to be built on two fundamental aspects: solidarity and respect. This respect extends beyond the formal recognition of borders and is rooted in regional security dynamics, as states in the region do not perceive threats from their neighbors.

Flags of Brazil and Argentina. Photo by Roberto Huczek on Unsplash

According to Kenkel (2010), peace in Latin America is not defined simply by the absence of war, but by a state of equilibrium that has sustained a continent free from significant interstate armed conflicts for more than a century. This relative peace has allowed the region to consolidate its capacities for mediation, diplomacy, and cooperation within its territory.

But how is it possible to perfect diplomacy in contexts of violence? In my opinion, one of the main explanatory factors lies in the concept of hybrid peace developed by Battaglino (2013). The author argues that the region cannot be understood in terms of positive peace, but neither can it be understood in terms of negative peace, since both dynamics coexist in the region.

These hybrid zones are characterized by a strong democratic presence coupled with mutual trust between neighbors and, at the same time, unresolved conflicts.

As noted by Arias Díaz et al. (2014), this does not change the reality that the region faces recurring crises, yet its societies continue to show a remarkable ability to confront and overcome them. It is undoubtedly this characteristic of overcoming adversity that has allowed it to develop innovative techniques to resolve them. If one considers the sustainability of peace in the region, it undoubtedly stems from two things: resilience and opportunity (Hirst et al., 2024). In other words, Latin America lacks hard power such as military force, but it has managed to develop its own form of diplomacy that has led it to both participate in and contribute to important processes. It has served as a mediator, stabilizer, and promoter of peace in the most complex situations.

Firstly, Brazil assumed a leading regional role by becoming the main supporter of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) (UN News, n.d.). In early 2004, a provisional mission was deployed in Haiti following the fall of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government (Hirst, 2018). Brazil was not only the country with the largest troop contingent in Haiti but also provided financial support through donations to the World Bank to contribute to the country's reconstruction (Ferreira & Leite, 2015).

This milestone marked the high point of Latin American commitment to international peacekeeping operations (Jenne, 2024), even though both Brazil and other countries in the region tend to react reluctantly to this type of intervention (Ferreira & Leite, 2015). As mentioned above, there is immense respect for territorial sovereignty.

A second example is the case of Argentina. The country has a civilian humanitarian volunteer corps recognized by the United Nations, called the White Helmets (Cascos Blancos) established under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (n.d.).

It has also participated almost continuously in missions since 1958 (Rial, 2013). Although it actively participated in MINUSTAH, its commitment to peace and diplomatic conflict resolution is even more evident in its continued presence in Cyprus (Ministerio de Defensa, 2022).

According to the archives of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (n.d.; UNFICYP), since 1993, Sector One has been the responsibility of the Argentina contingent. This covers 90 kilometers of the Buffer Zone, more precisely from the village of Kokkina, on the western coast of Cyprus, to the village of Mammari, west of Nicosia. Its main activities are carried out in the areas of operations, logistics, and humanitarian aid with the aim of preventing the conflict from reigniting (Ministry of Defense – Argentina Navy, 2022).

The cases of Brazil and Argentina may be the most emblematic for their contribution or durability, respectively, but they are not the only ones. Uruguay's participation in peacekeeping missions is also noteworthy. Despite having a population of less than 3.5 million, it is the South American country that has contributed most to United Nations operations (González-Guyer, 2020). One of its most representative contributions is to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), established in 2010 with the aim of protecting the civilian population and humanitarian personnel while attempting to stabilize and consolidate peace in the territory (MONUSCO, n.d.). This mission replaced MONUC, which was implemented in 1999 and in which Uruguay had participated since 2001 (Porto et al., 2025).

Along the same lines as the previous cases, Chile has collaborated with its Latin American counterparts in MINUSTAH and has also served in MINUSCA, with the aim of protecting civilians in the Central African Republic (Chilean Air Force, n.d.). However, its most significant contribution is to peace operations in the Balkans.

The country contributed from the first mission organized by the United Nations in 1997 until the present day, when it was transferred to the EU in 2004 (Jarufe Bader, 2023). And although its participation is relatively low (Jarpa Fábrega, 2019), it is the only Latin American country to participate, contributing to the security of the country and the stability of the region (Ejército de Chile, 2025).

Taken together, these cases show that peacebuilding in Latin America is not limited exclusively to specific interventions but is at a deeper level that is intertwined with cooperation. This was possible because the states in the region do not perceive threats from their neighbors, as the hypotheses of conflict were eliminated in order to establish zones of peace and progressively institutionalize cooperative spaces (Rial, 2013). Although there are differences and asymmetries, the will for regional cooperation is much stronger (Birle, 2018).

Although Latin America lacks hard power comparable to that of the most powerful states, it has managed to develop a form of diplomacy that has led it to both participate in and contribute to important processes.

It is noteworthy that despite its serious internal conflicts, the region continually seeks to build peace outside its territory. Latin America is undoubtedly a region that could offer alternative models of diplomacy in an increasingly polarized international order.

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