Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T02:21:25.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The United States Role in the Malvinas Crisis, 1982: Misguidance and Misperception in Argentina's Decision to Go to War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Lewis Feldman
David Lewis Feldman*
Affiliation:
Moorhead State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Malvinas (Falklands) war of April-June 1982 has generated little attention among international scholars largely because neither its causes or consequences are. assumed to have great power significance.

The thesis of this article is that the timing of the Malvinas invasion, and the subsequent miscalculation that the United States would tacitly assist Argentina, were partly shaped by U. S. policies. Although the principal motive for the invasion was to vindicate a claim stretching back to the early 19th century (U.S. House 1982c: 50-51; Etchepareborda, 1983:48-58), the abruptness of Argentina's actions was conditioned by Reagan administration overtures towards a grand “anti-Communist” alliance (Maechling, 1982:75-82; Sunday Times, 1982: 63); an increase in the frequency and prestige of high-level contacts between the U.S. and Argentina between 1980-1982; the cultivation of official links between Galtieri and high-ranking U.S. national security officials (U.S. House, 1982d: 67; Hastings and Jenkins, 1983:46); the intense, personal diplomacy of former Secretary of State Haig during the conflict (Hastings and Jenkins, 1983: 104-113); and by covert efforts by Argentina to extend and strengthen U.S.-Argentine ties (Cardoso et al., 1983: 60-61).

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , Summer 1985 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acevedo, D. (1984) “The U.S. Measures against Argentina Resulting from the Malvinas Conflict.” American Journal of International Law 78 (April): 323–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, M. (1984) “Dateline Argentina: Hello, Democracy,” Foreign Policy 55 (Summer): 154–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, J. (1982) ‘Argentina Denies Charge It Has Troops in Latin America.” Christian Science Monitor (23 February): 7.Google Scholar
Calvert, P. (1982) The Falklands Crisis: The Rights and the Wrongs. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Cardoso, O., Kirschbaum, R., and Van Der Kooy, E. (1983) Malvinas: La Trama Secreta. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana/Planeta.Google Scholar
Cohen, S. (1981) “Conditioning U.S. Security Assistance on Human Rights Practices.” American Journal of International Law 76: 246–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Congressional Record (1982) 29 April: 4315-4324.Google Scholar
Costa Méndez, N. (1984) “Falklands: An Argentine Reply.” The Economist (14 January): 4.Google Scholar
Diament, M. (1983) “Habla Alexander Haig.” Siete Días (27 December): 3-15Google Scholar
Diehl, J. (1982) “Argentina Suggests Desire for Normal Relations with U.S.” Washington Post (7July): 2.Google Scholar
Economist (London) (1984) 3-9 March: 29-31.Google Scholar
Etchepareborda, R. (1983) “La Cuestion Malvinas en Perspectiva Histórica.” Revista de Historia de América 96 (July-December): 27–67.Google Scholar
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) (1982) Latin American Report 2517, 7 June: 25. Washington, DC: U.S; Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Franks, Lord (1983) Falkland Islands Review: A Report of a Committee of Privy Counselors. London, England: HMSO.Google Scholar
GENTE (1983) “Toda la Verdad.” 8 December: 3, 31-34, 68-76.Google Scholar
Goldblat, J. and Millán, V. (1983) The Falkland-Malvinas Conflict: A Spur to Arms Build-ups.” London, England: Taylor and Francis Ltd. (a book of SIPRI: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute).Google Scholar
Haig, A. (1982) “Transcript of Remarks by U.S. Secretary State.” New York Times (1 May): 8.Google Scholar
Haig, A. (1984) Caveat: Realism, Reagan, and Foreign Policy. New York, NY: MacMillan Publishers Inc.Google Scholar
Hastings, M. and Jenkins, S. (1983) The Battle for the Falklands. New York, NY: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Henderson, N. (1983) “America and the Falklands: A Case Study in the Behavior of an Ally.” The Economist (12 November): 31–42.Google Scholar
Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS) (1983) Latin America: The Falklands War. Strategic Survey 1982-83: 116-121. London, England: Institute for Strategic Studies.Google Scholar
Johnson, K. (1982) “Argentina: Pride and Weakness,” pp. 40–58 in Wesson, R. (ed.) U.S. Influence in Latin America in the 1980s. New York, NY: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
La Nación (Buenos Aires) (1983a) 2 September: 6-9.Google Scholar
La Nación (Buenos Aires) (1983b) 1 September: 6-9.Google Scholar
Latin American Bureau (1982) Falklands/Malvinas: Whose Crisis? London, England: Latin American Bureau.Google Scholar
Latin American Weekly Report (LAWR) (1982) 1 January: 2.Google Scholar
Latin American Weekly Report (LAWR) (1981) 13 November: 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowenthal, A. (1983) “Ronald Reagan and Latin America: Coping with Hegemony in Decline,” pp. 311–335 in Oye, K., Lieber, R., and Rothchild, D. (eds.) Eagle Defiant: U.S. Foreign Policy in the 1980s. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar
Maechling, C. Jr. (1981-82) “The Argentine Pariah.” Foreign Policy 45 (Winter): 69–83.Google Scholar
New York Times (1982a) 25 March: A-11.Google Scholar
New York Times (1982b) 24 March: A-12.Google Scholar
New York Times (1981a) 15 February: A-4.Google Scholar
New York Times (1981b) 12 February: A-13.Google Scholar
New York Times (1981c) 13 January: A-10.Google Scholar
Parsons, A. (1983) “The Falklands Crisis in the United Nations, 31 March-l4 june, 1982.” International Affairs 59 (Spring): 169–178.Google Scholar
Perl, R. (1983) The Falkland Islands Dispute in International Law and Politics: A Documentary Sourcebook. London, England: Oceana.Google Scholar
Pierre, A. (1981-82) “Arms Sales, The New Diplomacy.” Foreign Affairs 60 (Winter): 266–286.Google Scholar
Purcell, S.K.(1983) “War and Debt in South America.” Foreign Affairs 61 (January): 660–674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoultz, L. (1981) Human Rights and U.S. Policy towards Latin America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Schumacher, E. (1984) “Hemispheric Pressure on Argentina to Ban the Bomb.” New York Times (15 April): 21.Google Scholar
Smith, G. C. (1982) “The OAS and the Falklands Conflict.” The World Today 38: 340–347.Google Scholar
Sunday Times of London Insight Team. (1982) War in the Falklands. New York, NY: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Tinker Latin American Seminar Series. (1983) Report on the Seminar on Conflict Resolution in the Western Hemisphere (unpublished manu script). Washington, DC: Meridian House International.Google Scholar
Turner, F. (1983) “The Aftermath of Defeat in Argentina.” Current History 82 (February): 58–61, 65.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs. Latin America and the U.S. after the Falklands/Malvinas Crisis (July 20 and August 5) (1982). 97th Congress, 2nd session. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs. Latin America and the U.S. after the Falklands/Malvinas Crisis (July 20 and August 5) (1982a) Statement of Riordan Roett: 3-11.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs. Latin America and the U.S. after the Falklands/Malvinas Crisis (July 20 and August 5) (1982b) Statement of Howard Wiarda: 24-34.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs. Latin America and the U.S. after the Falklands/Malvinas Crisis (July 20 and August 5) (1982c) Statement of Robert S. Leiken: 50-65.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs. Latin America and the U.S. after the Falklands/Malvinas Crisis (July 20 and August 5) (1982d) Statement of Mario Del Carril: 66-79.Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Inter-American Affairs. Latin America and the U.S. after the Falklands/Malvinas Crisis (July 20 and August 5) (1982e) Statement of Thomas Enders: 110-120.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of State (USDS) (1981) “Transcript of Statement by Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, Thomas Q Enders, before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs,” U.S. Department of State Bulletin 81 (December): 72-75.Google Scholar