PhD Defence

Paradiplomacia en las relaciones chileno-argentinas: La integración desde Coquimbo y San Juan

Date

Tuesday 13 September 2016

Time

11:15 - 12:00 hour

Location

Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden

Supervisor

• Prof. P. Silva

Summary

The dissertation studies how non-central governments inserted themselves in the integration process between Argentina and Chile. To analyse the paradiplomatic activities, a theoretical, a historical and an institutional framework were built. As a case study, the link between the Argentinean province of San Juan and the Chilean region of Coquimbo was addressed, through an extensive literature review and more than 70 semi-structured interviews with key informants in both countries.

The dissertation begins with a chapter presenting the theoretical framework, where the concepts of paradiplomacy, forms of state and centralism, are developed. The second chapter provides a historical overview of the role that the limit and the border area have played in the relationship between Argentina and Chile, showing how communities at the foot of the Andes relate differently than their central governments. The third chapter provides an institutional analysis of the Argentine and Chilean political configurations, shedding light on the different prerogatives and autonomy of their non-central governments. Finally, the fourth chapter analyses the link between Coquimbo and San Juan, especially through the integration committees and the Binational Entity Tunnel Agua Negra (EBITAN), with the aim of highlighting the fundamental role that substate governments played in the bilateral integration process.

The dissertation concludes that, through the appropriate international institutionalization and flexibility at the central level, Coquimbo and San Juan proved to be an enormous contribution to integration, something worthy of being replicated not only in Argentina and Chile, but also in other countries of Latin America and the world.

Attend

PhD defences are free; you do not have to register.

PhD dissertations

PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally after the defence through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.

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