In the aftermath of the Falklands/Malvinas War direct trading and diplomatic relations between the UK and Argentina disappeared. In this crisis context one might expect an organisation like the British Chamber of Commerce in the Argentine Republic (BCCAR) to disappear as well, given that its primary function was to promote trading and commercial relations between the two countries. On one level this was the case in that ex-pat managers of UK multinational subsidiaries in Argentina all left the country and the BCCAR deliberately took a lower profile role than previously.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the Chamber, while lacking any sense of political power, was able to exploit its position in order to maximise its political influence, particularly with the UK government because of its local knowledge and the uncertainty that existed in the UK over Argentinian policy at various points through the 1980s. The Chamber’s members, representing both local trading merchants and the subsidiaries of UK multinationals, remained committed to the underlying purpose of the Chamber and embarked on a range of activities to promote the eventual re-establishment of direct economic and diplomatic relations, finally achieved in 1990.
This paper explores the nature of the political influence achieved by the BCCAR when it had so little political power by using the archival records of the Chamber, UK Foreign Office files and the papers of Margaret Thatcher’s private office.
This paper is joint authored with Andrea Lluch (CONICET and Universidad de los Andes) but only Neil Rollings will present.