Martín Abel González's text on the intractable sovereignty dispute over the Falklands-Malvinas Islands is a highly original and insightful intervention that leaves a lasting legacy for understandings of geopolitics, diplomacy and international relations in the South Atlantic. The Genesis of the Falklands (Malvinas) Conflict focuses on the neglected decade of the 1960s, situating Anglo-Argentine negotiations over the archipelago within the context of broader international relations and challenges that marked the decade. The justification for the historical focus of the text is persuasive given that, ‘crucial swathes of the Falklands’ 20th-century diplomatic history preceding the war remain remarkably under-researched’ (p. 2). The void is especially puzzling as the decade witnessed the reawakening of the Argentine claim to the islands, the intervention of the UN in 1964–65 and an intensive period of bilateral negotiations between the British and Argentine governments. While the text demonstrates an acute sensitivity to domestic political dynamics in Britain, Argentina and to a lesser extent, the Falkland Islands, its ability to look beyond national conditions is its principal strength.

The chapters are organised chronologically, examining the catalyst for renewed tensions over the islands in the early-1960s, diplomatic encounters at the UN Decolonisation Committee and the bilateral sovereignty negotiations that ensued. González argues that understandings of the dispute and the failure to find a resolution have tended to problematically overplay the role of Argentine territorial nationalism and the strength of the Falkland Islands lobby in the British parliament, overlooking the more important process of decolonisation and its implications for the interests of Argentina and Britain. The text illustrates why this period in Anglo-Argentine diplomacy is deserving of more sustained analysis in order to enhance understandings of the road to the tragic 1982 war and the current impasse in the South Atlantic.

From the outset, González looks to debunk the self-perpetuating myths that have prevailed in relation to the dispute over the Falklands-Malvinas Islands in both ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ accounts. This is an ambitious undertaking but the author's grasp of English- and Spanish-medium literatures, allied with extensive archival work and interviews with key diplomatic figures mean that his arguments are well informed and convincingly articulated. So, for instance, the increased interest in the Malvinas question in Argentina, so often ascribed to the fervent nationalism generated by President Juan Perón in the 1940s, is instead explained by Argentine anxieties about what decolonisation might mean for its claims over the archipelago. The fear that the Falklands Islands could be recognised as an autonomous entity spurred the Argentine government into diplomatic action, attempting to counter any threats to its territorial aspirations in the South Atlantic. In a similar vein, ‘southern’ perspectives tend to fixate on Britain's economic and geopolitical interests in the South Atlantic in isolation, without giving due consideration to ‘the international circumstances of British decision-making’ (p. 17, emphasis in original). Britain, as Dodds has acknowledged in his book Pink Ice: Britain and the South Atlantic Empire, had wider postcolonial concerns focused on what events in the South Atlantic might mean for its other colonial possessions such as Gibraltar, British Honduras and Hong Kong. As González is able to show, misinterpretations of the wider geopolitical dynamics facing Argentina and Britain meant, ‘the policies implemented by each party to secure their respective position were perceived by the other as threatening and revisionist’ (p. 25).

The UN General Assembly Resolution 2065 of December 1965 then receives considerable attention, which is especially timely as Argentina marks the fiftieth anniversary of what is now considered its greatest diplomatic coup in relation to the Malvinas. Resolution 2065 identified the South Atlantic archipelago as a case of colonialism and noted the existence of a dispute between Britain and Argentina over its sovereignty, inviting the parties to proceed with negotiations to solve the problem. González expertly picks apart the minutiae of diplomatic encounters leading up to the resolution and most impressively connects them to the Cold War context with its implications for regional and international relations at the UN. It is fascinating to learn that the intervention of the UN was not necessarily welcomed by either side initially. For Argentina, the UN's role in ‘the internationalisation of decolonisation was regarded as a clear danger since it could serve, or compel, Britain to break the status quo in the South Atlantic in a way contrary to Argentine interests’ (p. 51). Britain, on the other hand, was especially suspicious of the constitution of the subcommittee to the UN Decolonisation Committee with its strong Latin American lobby, something which continues to frustrate British diplomats and representatives of the Falkland Islands today. Indeed, one of the most striking things about this text is how the events, discourse and arguments of the 1960s resonate with, and/or encourage the reader to rethink, the contemporary stalemate. The period under analysis in the text is when Britain's commitment to self-determination emerged and Argentina's diplomatic efforts reached out to Africa, the Middle East and East Asia, elements of the dispute that have been particularly prominent in the early years of the twenty-first century.

The final sections of the book interrogate the bilateral sovereignty negotiations that took place between Britain and Argentina from 1966–68. Although these seem part of a distant past given the current lack of diplomatic dialogue, the text shows how the talks ultimately failed due to disagreements over how the islanders would be involved in eventual sovereignty negotiations, something that continues to impede any progress towards resolution of the dispute. González argues that the islanders alone ‘carried little political weight’ (p. 130) and ‘Britain's purported deference to the wishes and welfare of the Falklanders was at odds with an inherently condescending policy that actually disregarded those wishes’ (p. 146). Of far more significance for British diplomats was the broader agenda of decolonisation and the avoidance of any contradictions with its policy on Gibraltar. In this sense, ‘the real power of the Falklanders’ wishes lay in their ability to transcend both the tiny island community and the Westminster corridors and reverberate in Britain's wider foreign policy and colonial agenda’ (p. 143). This does a slight disservice, in this reader's view, to the considerable agency and savvy shown by the islanders during the 1960s, as demonstrated during the visit of Lord Chalfont for example, and the text would have been strengthened with a closer inspection of political debate in the Falkland Islands as the author himself admits.

Notwithstanding the minor critique, this is an invaluable text that sheds light on the many misunderstandings that have marked, and continue to mark, Anglo-Argentine relations in the South Atlantic. It is incredibly sad that this gifted academic has been taken from us at such a young age but his contribution to understandings of the Falklands-Malvinas question should act as an inspiration and reference for those undertaking future research in the region.