The Falklands/Malvinas as an Identity Dispute: A Constructivist Analysis of the British and Argentinian Positions

IF 1.6 Q2 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Magdalena Lisińska
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhy is the Falklands/Malvinas case so prominent in the Argentine political narrative? Why is it almost absent in Britain? How can Britain afford to ignore United Nations General Assembly Resolutions calling for negotiations without the risk of being ostracised by the international community? The key to understanding the dispute lies in looking beyond material factors and examining the ideas behind the actions of the two actors involved. The Falklands/Malvinas case can thus be better examined as an identity dispute; a constructivist analysis highlights how the impasse between Britain and Argentina is the result of their different perceptions of the history of the islands, the international legal principles that apply to the case and the role Britain plays in the world system. Such diverging perceptions, in turn, prevent the parties from settling the dispute.KEYWORDS: Falkland IslandsIslas Malvinasconstructivismidentity AcknowledgmentsThe author would like to thank two anonymous reviewers and the editors of the journal for their valuable comments which helped to improve the paper.Notes1 The terms ‘South Atlantic War’ and ‘Falklands/Malvinas War’ are used interchangeably to refer to the 1982 armed conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom.2 As Tony Ingesson (Citation2009, 15) notes, in a bipolar international system, a country planning a war must take into account the attitudes of the two superpowers. Indeed, in the face of the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas operation, Argentine military officials sought US neutrality. However, when President Ronald Reagan called his Argentine counterpart, General Leopoldo Galtieri, on the eve of the military operation, the latter failed to heed Reagan's warnings that the US could not support Argentina in a possible armed invasion of the islands (Clark Citation1982, 276-81)3 Anthony Cary, the 5th Viscount Falkland (1656-94) was a treasurer of the Navy from 1681 to 1689. He sponsored the South Atlantic expedition led by John Strong which landed in the islands in 1690.4 French explorers established their colony of Port St Luis on the East Falkland Island in 1764. However, in 1766, under a treaty between France and Spain, the French agreed to leave the South Atlantic and cede territory to the Spanish, who claimed the islands as their own. The Spanish took formal control of Port St Louis in 1767 and renamed the settlement Puerto Soledad.5 Indigenismo was a socio-political and cultural movement that called for the inclusion of indigenous peoples in nation-building projects. It emerged in Latin America at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in Mexico and Peru.6 An expression of the two countries' dichotomous approach to the sovereignty issue is the existence of competing publications presenting the British and Argentine interpretations, respectively. In 2008 and 2012, British authors Graham Pascoe and Peter Pepper published two online articles outlining Britain's rights to the islands. The response to these publications was a 300-plus page book by Marcelo Kohen and Facundo Rodríguez presenting the Argentine arguments. This, in turn, led to another publication by Pascoe and Pepper, issued in 2020 (Kohen and Rodríguez Citation2016; Pascoe and Pepper Citation2020).7 Uti possidetis juris is a principle of customary international law which states that newly established sovereign states should retain their pre-independence borders.Additional informationFundingThe publication was funded under the program “Excellence Initiative – Research University” at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.Notes on contributorsMagdalena LisińskaMagdalena Lisińska is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
福克兰群岛/马尔维纳斯群岛作为身份争议:英国和阿根廷立场的建构主义分析
为什么福克兰/马尔维纳斯案例在阿根廷政治叙事中如此突出?为什么在英国几乎没有?英国怎么能无视要求谈判的联合国大会决议而不冒被国际社会排斥的风险呢?理解这场纠纷的关键在于超越物质因素,审视双方行为背后的思想。因此,福克兰群岛/马尔维纳斯案件可以作为身份纠纷更好地加以审查;一篇建构主义的分析强调了英国和阿根廷之间的僵局是他们对岛屿历史、适用于此案的国际法原则以及英国在世界体系中扮演的角色的不同看法的结果。这种看法的分歧反过来又阻碍了各方解决争端。作者要感谢两位匿名审稿人和期刊编辑的宝贵意见,他们的意见有助于本文的改进。注1“南大西洋战争”和“福克兰/马尔维纳斯战争”这两个术语可以互换使用,指的是1982年阿根廷和英国之间的武装冲突。2正如托尼·英格森(引文2009,15)所指出的,在两极国际体系中,一个国家计划战争必须考虑到两个超级大国的态度。事实上,面对1982年的福克兰/马尔维纳斯行动,阿根廷军方官员曾寻求美国保持中立。然而,当罗纳德·里根总统在军事行动前夕致电阿根廷总统莱奥波尔多·加尔蒂里将军时,后者没有注意到里根的警告,即美国不能支持阿根廷武装入侵这些岛屿(Clark Citation1982, 276-81)。安东尼·卡里,第五代福克兰子爵(1656-94)在1681年至1689年期间担任海军财务。他赞助了由约翰·斯特朗(John Strong)率领的南大西洋探险队,于1690.4年登陆该群岛。法国探险家于1764年在东福克兰岛建立了他们的殖民地圣路易斯港。然而,在1766年,根据法国和西班牙之间的条约,法国同意离开南大西洋,并将领土割让给西班牙人,西班牙人声称这些岛屿是他们自己的。1767年,西班牙人正式控制了圣路易斯港,并将该定居点重新命名为索莱达港。土著主义是一场社会政治和文化运动,呼吁将土著人民纳入国家建设项目。它在19世纪和20世纪之交出现在拉丁美洲,特别是在墨西哥和秘鲁。这两个国家在主权问题上的二分方法的表现是存在相互竞争的出版物,分别提出了英国和阿根廷的解释。2008年和2012年,英国作家格雷厄姆·帕斯科(Graham Pascoe)和彼得·佩珀(Peter Pepper)在网上发表了两篇文章,概述了英国对这些岛屿的权利。对这些出版物的回应是马塞洛·科恩(Marcelo Kohen)和法昆多(Facundo Rodríguez)撰写的一本300多页的书,提出了阿根廷的论点。这反过来又导致了Pascoe和Pepper在2020年发表的另一篇论文(Kohen和Rodríguez Citation2016;帕斯科和佩珀引文,2020).7法律所有权是习惯国际法的一项原则,它规定新成立的主权国家应保留其独立前的边界。本出版物由克拉科夫雅盖隆尼亚大学“卓越倡议-研究型大学”项目资助。作者简介smagdalena LisińskaMagdalena Lisińska是波兰克拉科夫雅盖隆尼亚大学美国研究与波兰侨民研究所的助理教授。
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来源期刊
International Spectator
International Spectator INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS-
CiteScore
3.60
自引率
5.90%
发文量
41
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