Chaco War

That process was a long and frustrating one; as the dates show, the peace conference lasted longer than the military phase of the war it was intended to end. On the other hand, the negotiations were successful, in the long run as well as the short term. As Bout observes, "it remains one of the few contemporary conferences that has provided a lasting settlement of an international crisis; since 1939 Paraguay and Bolivia have been peaceful neighbors, and the old fortines [fortified military outposts] that once dotted the Chaco have almost disappeared." In a century of so many peace conferences that were inconclusive or worse, the success of this one, Bout argues, is deserving of attention. In making this assertion, as will be seen below, Bout answers his principle working question before he has asked it.

The Chaco War arose out of boundary disputes between Paraguay and its neighbors going back t

. . .
he actual settlement. "The mediators tacitly acknowledged that naming the war's instigator and a peace settlement were incompatible goals." Evaded as well was the closely related question of whether a just peace could be created on the basis of an implicit recognition of "facts on the ground" that had been changed by force. In fact, Paraguay had gained most of the Chaco, and done so forcibly; a token withdrawal from a portion of the gained territory was all that could be hoped for, and regarded as sufficient. To the central working question, then, of what constitutes a successful peace settlement, Bout firmly answers, one that works, i.e., one that prevents further outbreaks of war over the same or resulting issues. This answer also provides insight into Bout's ideological perspective. He plainly belongs to the traditional realist school of international affairs. This school tends to view war and other confrontations as conflicts of interest, not conflicts of principles. He is as ready to dismiss the question of the ultimate rights and wrongs of the war as was the peace settlement of which he approves. One other possible interpretation is brought up, only to be dismissed. The Chaco region was near oil fields in
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Paraguay Bolivia, Criticism Bout, World War, Bolivian Paraguayan, Chaco War, Chaco Paraguay, Standard Oil, Nor Bout's, Bolivia Uruguay, Latin Americans, peace conference, oil fields, peace settlement, chaco war, war fought, paraguay bolivia, chaco peace, peace process, standard oil, inter-american disputes, peace conference 1935-1939, traditional realist school, politics chaco peace, realist school international, chaco peace conference,
Approximate Word count = 1976
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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