1 Choosing the Right Battles: The Politics of Dispute Escalation in the Andean Community 1 Laura Gomez-Mera University of Miami Andrea Molinari Conicet/Universidad de San Andrés Paper prepared for the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), New Orleans, February 17-20, 2010. 1 This is a preliminary draft. Please do not cite or quote. We are grateful to Beverly Barrett for excellent research assistance.