Excerpts from the Book of the National Defense of Chile 2002

OBJECTIVES OF NATIONAL DEFENSE

In broad outlines, Defense, on the one hand, protects the population, the territory, the goods and activities that take place within the nation’s boundaries and, on the other, helps to support the implementation of Chile’s foreign policy that is founded on the search for a world order regulated by law.

In order to fulfill this general purpose, Defense pursues the following objectives:

a) To preserve the independence and sovereignty of the country.

b) To maintain the integrity of the national territory.

c) To help establish the external security conditions needed to achieve the public welfare of the country.

d) To support Chile’s international projection.

e) To help maintain and promote international peace and security, in accordance with national interests.

f) To contribute to national development and cooperate with the achievement of a balanced and harmonious realization of the nation’s different capabilities.

g) Within the institutional sphere, to help preserve Chile’s institutional system as a Democratic Republic and Constitutional State.

h) Likewise, because it embodies national traditions and symbols, to help safeguard our historical and cultural identity, but not preventing the renewal and enrichment of these traditions and symbols.

i) To contribute to the State’s activities aimed at strengthening of civil society’s commitment to Defense.

Furthermore, in order to achieve these objectives, Defense has a number of different instruments, among which the Armed Forces constitute the core element. These instruments are directed and organized by a state policy that expresses the will of the Chilean State to use such means in deterrent or cooperative actions during peacetime and in military operations in wartime, to contend with external interference that threatens the achievement of our national objectives.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILE’S NATIONAL DEFENSE POLICY

Our National Defense Policy is a set of principles and criteria that guide the State’s function of Defense with a view towards preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our nation and to contributing to the achievement of other national objectives. It provides the general outlines for structuring, coordinating and attuning efforts made to contend with the obstacles, risks and threats that third parts may raise against national interests.

Defense Policy is a State policy and therefore must be considered over and above all political contingencies, and at the same time, it transcends the projects and actions that successive governments of the country may undertake.

As a state policy, it is also a public policy and, therefore, must be formulated, implemented and verified under the same general conditions as other public policies, including being subject to the approval of civilian opinion and objections. However, Defense Policy must have certain protections due the nature of some of its issues or elements, which differentiate it from other public policies. This is why is a public statement that Defense activities should be protected through special legal systems. For these reasons, Defense merits specific treatment and sensitive handling.

Like every activity of the State, Defense Policy has a dual nature of continuity and change. This sector embodies national traditions and symbols, and many of the factors that guide it are of a permanent nature or very stable over time. However, their permanence over time is only valid to the extent that they will not be changed by the emergence of new elements that have to be considered or due to shifts in the conditions behind their development. In other words, it needs sufficient energy to be able to adapt to international changes that would affect the security of the nation. In addition, it is necessary that they be consistent with the position the country takes towards the world, with risks and threats to be faced, and with the nation’s geographical environment and finally with the national traditions in Defense matters.

All the agencies of the State that have direct responsibilities in Defense must participate in the formulation of Defense Policy. Particularly important is the leading role played by the Ministry of National Defense and the Armed Forces, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Defense Commission of both Chambers of the Legislature. Because Defense is the expression of a national concept, it is also advisable to consider the opinion of other institutions, both state and private, that have a qualified knowledge of the subject. One of these is what is known as the “Defense Community,” a group comprised of military and civilians, mainly from academic centers and political parties, whose common denominator is their knowledge and experience in Defense matters. The purpose of this group is to establish the lines of civilian and military thought in the investigation and discussion of general issues that bear a relation with National Defense.

Along with providing general guidelines for the work of the institutions of the sector, Defense Policy includes the criteria and basic direction to the precautions that should be taken to neutralize external threats, as well as to deal with domestic emergencies when the constitutional states of emergency so determine it, to help reduce the effects of natural disasters and to support Chile’s image abroad. Such guidelines are intended for all state agencies that take part in Defense matters rather than to the Armed Forces in particular. For these there is a Military Policy, derived from the Defense Policy that lays the foundations for the actions of the armed forces during peacetime.

REFERENCE FRAMEWORK

Chile’s Defense Policy is formulated in line with the following general principles:

a) The Chilean State does not hold any aggressive intentions towards any country in the world; nor has it had territorial claims in the neighboring context.

b) The Chilean State has the will to protect its population, to defend its national interests, and to safeguard its political independence, its national sovereignty and its territorial integrity.

c) The Chilean State has the responsibility to maintain an adequate military capability to assist in the achievement of its national objectives, bearing in mind that the development of that military capability is proportional to the development of the country’s other capabilities.

d) The Chilean State has the responsibility to use all its national capabilities and, particularly its military power, for the Defense of the country and the protection of the national interests in the face of foreign threats, if it is necessary.

e) The Chilean State should encourage civil society’s commitment to National Defense, with objectives that include, among others, the necessary provisions for the fulfillment of Compulsory Military Service, the meeting of the needs of national mobilization and the need to maintain the competence and capabilities of reserve personnel.

f) For the Chilean State –as for all states in general–, its relative geographical location is a significant factor in the formulation of its Defense Policy.

g) The Chilean State has situated its Defense Policy entirely within the institutional legal framework currently in force in the country and recognizes and respects the treaties and international agreements incorporated to this framework, in such a manner that its Defense Policy has the legitimacy which is proper for all policies of State and that it represents the political commitment that, on one hand, binds the State to the nation’s citizens and, on the other, to the international community.

h) The Chilean State considers as particularly important and advisable the existence of a close relationship and coordination between its Defense and its Foreign Policy, so that they complement and reinforce each other, although the former will act in support of the latter.

i) The Chilean State shall uphold its commitment to contribute to the defense and promotion of international peace, in accordance with national interests.

USE OF THE DEFENSE MEANS

The Defense Policy has established three general forms of using Defense resources. These forms are detailed below:

Deterrence

Chile maintains a defensive attitude as a fundamental orientation of its Defense Policy, as well as its deterrent character in the political-strategic sphere. It must be noted that the deterrent form refers to conventional deterrence, since Chile holds to its international commitments on issues regarding the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

In broad outlines, deterrence is a political-strategic way of using Defense means, in which the Armed Forces play a primary but not exclusive role. What deters is the nation’s overall power, directed by the political authorities of the State and supported by political consensus, as well as by the population’s determination to support the objectives of Defense. In other words, it is impossible to deter without the existence of military force, but deterrence is basically achieved by virtue of the political-strategic stature the country has been able to achieve.

Deterrence is an effect. It is a psychological and subjective state that one seeks to produce in the mind of a potential adversary. It therefore centers on the available capabilities and the determination to use them, to make deterrence a viable option. Deterrence attempts to discourage, as early as possible, any enemy intention to interfere against one’s own vital interests, by demonstrating that the cost of interference will be higher than its expected benefits. The most effective deterrence is that which insinuates one’s potential capacity to win. That is, the best form of deterrence is preparing oneself to win.

Deterrence helps to stabilize international relations, convincing parties not to resort to force to impose solutions in the event of conflict. Through deterrence, the State can also prevent conflict from escalating and becoming an armed confrontation. As the international system has developed, other actors with varying degrees of power have appeared, some capable of disputing and even threatening the power of a state. Consequently, they must also be considered as potential enemies to be deterred.

It is important not to confuse the orientations of Defense Policy with the way in which the alternative between defensive and offensive strategic attitudes operate. In this sense, within a policy oriented towards protecting the country’s population, defending its national interest, and safeguarding its political independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity, deterrence cannot be limited solely to a defensive strategy. Strategic defense alone, unyielding as it may be, may not suffice to deter a potential enemy that threatens force or has decided to use it.

Cooperation

In particular, after the last decade of the 20th century, the Chilean State has incorporated bilateral and multilateral cooperation on issues concerning Defense and security into its Defense Policy within the framework established in the integration processes it promotes and through active participation in maintaining and building international peace and security and enforcing it under certain conditions.

This is not inconsistent with the fact that our Defense Policy has a fundamental defensive orientation and a deterrent character in the political strategic sphere. On the contrary, Chile is determined to increase its present degree of international cooperation, at different levels or contexts (neighboring, regional/sub-regional, continental, and global).

We must keep in mind that Chile’s cooperation in the region dates back a long time, and there are military cooperation systems in the American Continent, such as the Conference of American Armies, the Inter-American Navy Conference and the Conference of American Air Force Chiefs; combined exercises such as Unitas, Rimpac, Team-Work, Red Flag, Passex, Cabañas, and other more recent efforts, that deal with cooperation, integration and transparency, which demonstrates that cooperation has been ongoing since the mid-20th century, though, certainly with different emphases during that time.

The security of Chile depends, primarily, on its most adjacent strategic environment, but the importance of its relations concerning security with other international actors and the implications of an international agenda less linked to definitions of an exclusive territorial nature has increased. Because of this, Chile should not restrict its Defense Policy to a mere protection of its territory, which of course continues in effect. It should be enriched by the opening of its economy, the renewal of the international political institutions in which the country participates, the dynamics of globalization and the growing importance of international crises that have their roots in conflicts between states or non-state threats.

Cooperation does not mean minimizing or changing the roles and missions which the Armed Forces have been performing and fulfilling throughout their history, but it also implies that part of their efforts should be directed towards collaboration with the national drive towards integration.

Coercive Use of Military Power

The Chilean State recognizes as situations of legitimate use of military forces, in cases of international conflict, those included in the framework established by the United Nations Charter. In effect, its Article 51 recognizes the immanent right to legitimate defense, individual or collective, in cases of armed attack against one of its members. The Chilean State also allows the individual or collective use of armed forces undertaken on the basis of a resolution of the United Nations Security Council, pursuant to Chapter VII of the abovementioned Charter.

In any case, Chile will regulate the use of force in accordance with the conventions and international agreements that govern International Humanitarian Law and the general rules of national law.

Additional information on the Book of the National Defense of Chile 2002