From antagonistic autonomy to relational autonomy: A theoretical reflection from the southern cone

Several points of interest arise from this formulation.9 All countries have a greater or lesser degree of basic autonomy depending on the degree of power they have accumulated, which should neither be squandered in seeking elitist self-rewards nor wasted in symbolic, contentious, challenging gestures and attitudes. Instead, autonomy should be maintained and cultivated through decisions and actions that help to increase all the country's power attributes and the material welfare of the entire population. This implies a prudent posture, strategic vision, and utilitarian calculation to determine both the scope and meaning, as well as the content and practice, of autonomy.

Escude's model closely parallels the conditions established by Puig's idea of "national dependency," Pena's "consented dependency," Bell's "dependent ally," Dolan and Tomlin's strategy of "reinforcement," Moon's "dependent consensus," Mouritzen's "defensive acquiescence," and Klink's "heteronomous exchange."

"National dependency" occurs when governing elites rationalize their subordinate status and elaborate their own objectives in order to obtain maximum benefit from the dependent situation, occasionally in the hope of achieving margins for autonomous action toward future benefits (Puig 1980, 150-52). On the other hand, in the context of an interpenetrated system in which a country's international autonomy is clearly limited, "consented dependency" implies that the profoundly asymmetrical situation that characterizes the country's relations with the world is not perceived as such by its elites and, consequently, no significant contentious responses to the model of predominant external insertion occur (Pena 1970, 872). Thus the foreign policy adopted focuses on preserving the status quo to the detriment of all other more ambitious options, in a combination of behaviors that leads to a defensive, marginal, passive role in world affairs.

Bell's notion of the "dependent ally" is based on the premise that an actor in the international arena must achieve and ensure a solid alliance with a powerful counterpart. This situation of dependency grows to the extent that the foreign policy of the less powerful actor is determined mainly by economic; commercial, and financial considerations. Thus, the alignment of a more dependent actor with a stronger and more influential one guarantees greater security as well as improved material conditions (Bell 1988).

The "reinforcement" strategy proposed by Dolan and Tomlin is a foreign policy conduct produced in the framework of an asymmetrical dyad. Because all governments hope their foreign policy will lead to economic well-being and political autonomy, strengthened relations between a subordinate and a dominant actor will lead both to an increase in economic welfare and a decrease in political autonomy. Given the main emphasis on material welfare, efforts to reinforce such links are reproduced, which lead, in turn, to further alignment of the less powerful actor with the more powerful one in the dyad (Dolan and Tomlin 1984).