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There is an inherent contradiction between the regional integration projects in Latin America, albeit rhetorically conducted, and the staunch defense by most countries of their national sovereignty, which restricts and opposes many liberalization mechanisms implicit in, and necessary to, the integration processes, based on the rendition of sovereignty in some areas of economic relevance, including, and especially, trade and industrial policies, as well as other sectorial measures. The dilemma is historically compounded by a juridical tradition that places the retraction into an introverted version of the sovereignty principle into the context of conceptual elaborations well known in the international law, such as Calvo doctrine and the Drago principle. Brazil is one of the most resolute promoters of the national sovereignty principle among Latin American countries, clearly expressed in its constitutional chart and foreign policy stances, since the Second Hague peace conference of 1907. Other Latin American countries, mainly in Central America and the Caribbean, are much more motivated by real concerns over recurrent United States interventionism in the regional, in some cases by military means. This framework has somewhat infringed on integration projects, which is also hindered by economic nationalism and state interventionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increasing levels of cooperation within Latin American countries, this article suggests that domestic political and institutional variables affect the options for greater integration within countries. Traditional ways of understanding security among policymakers explain the lack of reforms in this sector. The article provides the example of Argentina and Chile, the most advanced countries within South America in terms of cooperation in the field of security. The authors try to demonstrate that several institutional inertias within each country have preempted these two countries from advancing a paradigmatic shift in their security approaches toward each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]