The Malvinas War and its effects on the defense politics of Brazil, People´s Republic of China, the United States and Great Britain

Abstract

The article examines the impact of the Malvinas War on the defense politics of Brazil, People´s Republic of China, the United States and Great Britain. In the four cases, the following dimensions of the conflict are analyzed: the relations between the national and military strategic levels, the role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the doctrinal lessons at the air, naval, and land levels. For the analysis of these dimensions, key sources were identified as official documents and, mainly, articles written by civilian or military specialists. As a criterion for inclusion of the sources, were privileged those written by professors in the War Schools of the mentioned countries or by key officials of the defense ministries. Regarding the cases, their inclusion is justified based on their relevance for reflection on different topics in the field of security and defense studies. It is argued that the reflection on the Malvinas War has been guided by previous debates in each country about different aspects of defense politics and military strategy, in this way, the conflict was functional to the consolidation or, on the contrary, to the abandonment of ideas regarding what was the appropriate defense policy to be implemented in each case analyzed.