¿La defensa nacional como instrumento de desarrollo económico? El Fondo Nacional para la Defensa (FONDEF) de Argentina

Abstract

This article analyzes the way in which the objective to promote economic development of Argentina through investment in national defense operated in the characteristics of the FONDEF. The work is developed on the premise that defense policy can be used by States as an instrument of economic development and argues that the objective to promote economic development operates the type of military investment, which can be semi-open or semi-closed. In this sense, the work maintains that FONDEF as a type of military investment has adopted semi-closed characteristics associated with the objective of promoting economic development. Based on this argument, a review of the literature is carried out that investigates the relationship between investment in defense and growth and then an empirical analysis is carried out to evaluate the main characteristics of FONDEF. For this, a qualitative
methodology associated with a case study is used based on the analysis of official documents and indirect quantitative data. The article concludes that the empirical evidence is consistent with the initial argument and identifies that the spending in defense in Argentina prioritizes projects linked to strengthening the country´s position in the South Atlantic.