Introduction

This chapter examines the collective security issue-area in the Western Hemisphere from 1991 to 2005. Its purpose is to clarify the role played by the US and the OAS respectively in the hemispheric security agenda setting process. The key question is whether the US sets the regional security agenda unilaterally, cooperatively, or via a combination of these two modalities. The Realist expectation would be that the US as the hegemonic power would set the hemispheric agenda unilaterally, and that the subordinate states would have no real choice but to acquiesce to US interests. The expectation of Neo-liberal institutionalism would be that, especially when its interests are perceived to be at risk, the US would choose to set the hemispheric security agenda cooperatively. The US then would allow the hemispheric security agenda to be set by means of regimes and institutions to garner greater legitimacy, and to obtain better results at lower costs in the long run. The analysis presented in this chapter focuses specifically on the extent to which the OAS participates in the regional security agenda setting process by looking at two examples of OAS involvement in two general cases: 1) illegal drugs; and 2) military cooperation.

The Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) Case

The first general case consists of an analysis of the multilateral decisions of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), established in 1986 and achieved by means of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM).