Regionalism in Latin America: Navigating in the Fog

Abstract:
The more recent waves of regionalism in Latin America have been associated, respectively, with structuralist, neoliberal and post-liberal economic and political experiments in the region.

Structuralist regionalism was launched in the 1950s and somehow survived until the 1970s; open regionalism followed in the 1980s and 1990s and was replaced, to a certain extent, during the next decade by post-liberal regionalism.

However, the limits, if not demise, of post-liberal experiments in the most important economies of Latin America pose the question of the future of regionalism. In this changing situation, this paper explores several questions about the future of regionalism in Latin America. Will regionalism hold sway over Latin America? Will present integration schemes continue in the region? Will new entities arise? Will there be a convergence in diversity between integration projects in Latin America? Will the new context of global uncertainties lead to a revival of regionalism?

Author: Alberto van Klaveren
Full document: 2017, Klaveren, Regionalism in Latin America -Navigating in the Fog