Competing claims for security governance in South America

With a focus on South America, this chapter studies the increasingly complex relations between different levels of multilateralism. It maps security governance in South America, taking into account regional security organizations as well as other intraregional, global–regional, and transregional linkages that are relevant for security governance. The chapter discusses whether relations between those institutions are cooperative or competitive. It illustrates that it is difficult to understand inter-organizational relations without taking into consideration the role of individual states. Regional power dynamics have a big impact on the emergence of institutional overlap and inter-organizational relations. The Organization of American States covers the entire Americas and all three spheres of security governance. Intraregional relations are shaped by informal coalitions and by how South American actors relate to global and inter-regional institutions. The degree of overlap of mandates in South America varies according to the area of security governance. Overlap might result in either a cooperative or a conflictive type of regional security governance