Methodologies of military transparency: technical and theoretical approaches on the south american case

Abstract

The mechanisms of military transparency seek to dissipate threat perceptions between nations. Such tools compose a wider set called Confidence and Security Building Measures (CSBM), developed in its current version at the Helsinki Act of 1975. In South America, one can find well-succeeded initiatives of military transparency, such as the mechanism established between Chile and Argentina in 2001. In the year of 2012, the South American Defense Council (CDS in its Brazilian acronym), published the first Defense Expenditure Register. The document makes transparent the investments realized in defense by the twelve members from 2006 to 2010. The intention of the present article is to discuss from a theoretical perspective the objective of the military transparency, as well analyze from a technical viewpoint the methodology developed by the CDS.