Features of Argentina's diplomatic activity in the XIX – XXI centuries (based on the materials of the Digital Library of Treaties of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina)

Abstract

The object of the study is the foreign policy of Argentina. The subject of the study is the diplomatic activity of Buenos Aires, expressed in the conclusion of bilateral agreements. The purpose of the article is to build a picture of the development of Argentina's foreign policy based on a quantitative analysis of more than eight thousand documents contained in the Digital Library of Treaties (Biblioteca Digital de Tratados) on the web portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Argentina. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as the general dynamics of Argentine diplomatic activity and the change of priorities in contacts with individual states and regions. Special attention is paid to the comparative dynamics of Argentina's relations with the United States, Russia, China and leading European countries in the period from 1983 to the present. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the study of this array of documents in their entirety has not yet been conducted by domestic scientists. The article uses general scientific methods of cognition, as well as statistical analysis. The aforementioned library of treaties was used as sources, as well as the works of Argentine and domestic researchers devoted to various aspects of the subject under consideration. As a result of statistical analysis of the collection of treaties, the peculiarities of Argentina's diplomatic activity at different stages of the evolution of its foreign policy were revealed, presented in the form of diagrams and graphs. The main conclusions can be noted, firstly, a sharp increase in diplomatic activity in general and especially outside the region in the period after 1946; a tendency to increase the importance of Russia, China and Asian countries in the period after 1983; while maintaining the priority of relations with European countries under all presidents except K. Fernandez.