By Reason or Force: Chile and the Balancing of Power in South America, 1830-1905

This is Robert N. Burr's 'By Reason or Chile and the Balancing of Power in South America, 1830-1905', published in 1974 by The University of California Press, in paperback, 322pp, ISBN 0520026292. In this volume, the author proposes a general framework within which the events of South American intrarelations will have a meaningful place; where the historical relevance to each other can be determined. Previously, the author had stated that such a framework, for it to be sufficiently capacious, must be continental and that the main developments in the international life of South America could be seen as phases in the evolution of a continental system of power politics. This book looks at how one South American nation affected and was affected by the development of a continental system of power politics in South America. This is Chile, which in 1834 adopted a shield as its official national emblem, upon which was engraved 'Por la razon o la fuerza' - "By Reason or Force". The study begins in 1830, when Chile forged the internal stability which was a prerequisite for its rise to a position of power. The final year covered, 1905, was a point at which Chile, having previously reached agreements with Argentina providing for a continental equilibrium giving Chile hegemony on the Pacific Coast, exchanged with Bolivia ratifications of a treaty sybolizing that hegemony. 1. Introduction; 2. The Foundations of National Power; 3. Champion of the American Equilibrium; 4. Aspiration versus reality in the postwar world; 5. Regulating the Pacific Coast Balance of Power; 6. The Bridge that Two Wars Built; 7. Continental Power Beginning of a New Era; 8. From Cooperation to Continental Crosscurrents; 9. Recasting the South American Power Structure; 10. Toward an Armed Peace; 11. Reversion to Equilibrium; 12. Toward Rapprochement with Argentina; 13. Toward Encirclement; 14. A New South American Equilibrium; 15. Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index