Dogmatic Westernization in foreign policy and strategic denationalization in national defense: Javier Milei's government in perspective (2023-2025)

Abstract

This paper describes the foreign policy of Javier Milei's government as one of "dogmatic Westernization" and argues that its defense policy is framed within a process of "strategic denationalization". These approaches, as the libertarian administration is close to completing half of its term, constitute structural features in its way of viewing the world and designing the nation's defensive-military apparatus. Following the introduction, the following two sections present a summary of the prolific series of positions, announcements, executive measures, and legislative initiatives —from December 2023 to May 2025— in foreign policy and national defense that support Milei's project of "dogmatic Westernization" and "strategic denationalization." This enumeration will also attempt to clarify how foreign policy —in its international security dimension— has contributed to the dislocation of the Argentine military-defensive system and the alteration of the normative and doctrinal order constructed since the restoration of democracy in 1983. Finally, tentative conclusions will be presented on what to expect if the ongoing processes of "dogmatic Westernization" and "strategic denationalization" deepen in the future.