Threat Construction and Military Intervention in Internal Security: The Political Use of Terrorism and Drug Trafficking in Contemporary Argentina

• Author: Jorge Battaglino
• Published date: 01 November 2019
• Date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19858680
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19858680

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 229, Vol. 46 No. 6, November 2019, 10–24

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19858680

© 2019 Latin American Perspectives

10

Threat Construction and Military Intervention in

Internal Security

The Political Use of Terrorism and Drug Trafficking in

Contemporary Argentina

by

Jorge Battaglino

Translated by

Victoria J. Furio

Argentina has a deeply rooted tradition of rejecting participation by the military in

internal security and legislation that prohibits such involvement. The current construc-

tion of a threat from drug trafficking and terrorism and the proposal of intervention by the

armed forces to contend with them is the result of a narrative justifying the implementa-

tion of various government policies. Exploration of the mechanism of discursive threat

construction, or securitization, from the critical perspective of the Copenhagen School

demonstrates how security discourse and practices allow actors and institutions to mobi-

lize resources, control agendas, and use violence with greater discretion.

Argentina tiene una arraigada tradición de rechazo a la participación de los militares en

temas de seguridad interna y posee, además, una legislación que prohíbe tal involucra-

miento. La construcción actual de la amenaza del narcotráfico y el terrorismo y la propuesta

de intervención de las fuerzas armadas para enfrentarlas son el resultado de un discurso

que es funcional a la implementación de distintas políticas por parte del gobierno. Una

examinación de la dinámica de la construcción discursiva de la amenaza, o la securitización,

a partir de la perspectiva crítica de la Escuela Copenhague evidencia cómo el discurso y las

prácticas de la seguridad permiten a actores e instituciones movilizar recursos, controlar

agendas y utilizar la violencia con mayor discrecionalidad.

Keywords: Argentina, Internal security, Armed forces, Drug trafficking, Terrorism

Argentina is immersed in a process of threat construction whose main

thrust is to define drug trafficking and terrorism as security threats. President

Mauricio Macri and other high-level officials have declared that the armed

forces should prepare to confront both problems, something that would break

one of the most basic agreements of Argentina’s recent democratic phase. The

post-1983 political system was built on a foundational accord that established

a strict legal separation between national defense and internal security (Pion-

Jorge Battaglino is a tenured senior researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas

y Técnicas and a professor at the Universidad Torcuado Di Tella, Argentina. He is grateful for the

valuable feedback from Haroldo Dilla, Carlos Vilas, and Russell White on a draft version of this

work. Victoria J. Furio is a translator and conference interpreter located in Yonkers, NY.

858680LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X19858680Latin American PerspectivesBattaglino / The Military and Internal Security in Argentina

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