Militarist Peace in South America

Despite rivalries, crises, and notoriously violent internal political processes, South American states have paradoxically avoided a major intraregional, interstate war since 1935. Martin examines why and how intraregional, interstate relations in South America remained relatively peaceful. This analysisis theoretically and empirically interesting because in this region, the conditions for war assumed by political realism were present, yet a major war did not erupt. Conversely, the conditions for interstate peace presupposed by international liberalism were absent, but intraregional peace prevailed for over sixty-five years. Martin derives several realist and liberal propositions on the causes of war and peace and tests them, utilizing evidence from the peace in South America, as well as developing and discussing the "Militarist Peace" hypothesis.