Using international relations theories to explain why the Falkland Essay

Using international relations theories to explain why the Falkland Island war of 1982 was a lie to the people of Argentina - Essay Example s at home, the Argentinian leadership decided to invade Falkland Island which the British government had claimed ownership in 1833, thus leading to war. This paper will discuss the major causes of the war in relation to international relation theories. In addition, the paper will discuss why the war remained a lie for the face of Argentine population. The Argentines believed that the British stole their islands, and hence there was a need to claim back their land. This is what the citizens had been taught in school and saw Britons guarding the islands as enemies. This bred a sense of patriotism and the zeal to support the government in case of war as part of fulfilling their national duty (Grove, 2005). This cultural belief is supported by the constructivism theory of international relations which is behavior based. However, in reality, the Britons living 200 miles off their coast were by no means a threat to the Argentines. Their lives had been made worse by their own government which did not care much about their welfare. Argentina was in search for an opportunity to fulfill its mission with no success. However, while one of its local merchants got a contract to clear off scrap on South Georgia Island. The idea of protecting the islands came after the merchant was denied access to the scrap site by the UK Navy personnel manning the island. He was required to get a work permit from the United Kingdom’s Embassy at Buenos Aeries (Kiney, 1989). The army got a chance for access to the island in the pretext of protecting the scrap dealer and raised the flag on the island. In a span of eight days, the Argentina leader had ordered for a full military occupation on other islands. According to an agreement signed in 1771 between Britain and Spain, Britain had reserved rights to the Islands even though it had vacated the islands in 1774 (Kiney, 1989). After Spain’s withdrawal in 1811, the land remained without any occupation until 1816. Before the colonization of