Abstract:
This article presents an analysis of the different approaches proposed by authors who have conducted research on Latin American integration and regionalism. This study suggests that there are three competing initiatives of integration and regionalism in the third wave of Latin American integration: Post-Liberal Regionalism contained within UNASUR and ALBA, Open Regionalism Reloaded in the region through the Pacific Alliance, and Multilateralism or Diplomatic Regionalism with a Latin American flavour envisaged in the recently created CELAC.

The study concludes that these new developments of a regionalism à la carte are a product of dislocation of the economic agenda of regionalism towards a set of diverse issues. Hence it demands a rethinking of the theorisation of Latin American Regionalism.

Resumen:
Este artículo analiza las diferentes perspectivas propuestas por investigadores sobre integración en América Latina y sugiere que hay tres iniciativas concurrentes de integración y regionalismo durante la tercera ola de integración latinoamericana: regionalismo post-liberal, sostenido en la UNASUR y ALBA; regionalismo abierto reforzado, que ha sido reinsertado en la región por medio de la Alianza del Pacífico, y el multilateralismo o regionalismo diplomático que contiene un tinte latinoamericano y que se perfila en la recién creada CELAC.

El documento concluye que estos nuevos acontecimientos representan un regionalismo à la carte producto de un dislocamiento de la agenda económica del regionalismo latinoamericano hacia un conjunto de temas diversos que obligan a repensar la teorización sobre este fenómeno.

Authors: Cintia Quiliconi and Raúl Salgado Espinoza
Full document: 2017, Quiliconi & Salgado, Integración Latinoamericana- ¿Regionalismo à la Carte en un Mundo Multipolar?

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

Abstract:
This article addresses three questions: why there was a surge in regional cooperation projects in Latin America in the last decade; how to characterize the current multi-faceted scenario; and how to make this complexity work. After a review of six theoretical perspectives, an original conceptual approach is proposed: “modular regionalism.” This credibly answers the three questions and offers policy recommendations.

Author: Gian Luca Gardini
Full document2015, Gardini, Towards Modular Regionalism- the Proliferation of Latin American Cooperation

Abstract:
This paper aims to reflect on the scope and meaning of the last two decades of Latin American regional integration. Two schemes of post-liberal regionalism are studied –ALBA and Unasur. These two schemes respond to two different ways of understanding the region, one from Venezuela, the other one from Brazil.

However, up to now, they do not offer significant results or consolidate, strictly speaking, a post-hegemonic regional scenario.

We cannot forget other factors in understanding the uncertainty that characterises the Latin American regionalism: factors such as ideological polarity and Westphalian nationalism, and other economic factors such as the current political and economic crisis in Brazil or Venezuela, or the emergence of new regionalism initiatives such as the Pacific Alliance.

Resumen: 
El propósito del siguiente trabajo es reflexionar respecto del alcance y sentido de las últimas dos décadas transcurridas en la integración regional latinoamericana a nivel intergubernamental. Además, se abordan dos esquemas propios del regionalismo posliberal, como son ALBA y Unasur. Dos esquemas que aunque responden a formas diferentes de entender la región, una desde Venezuela, la otra desde Brasil, hasta el momento, no ofrecen grandes resultados, lo cual dista de consolidar, en sentido estricto, un escenario regional poshegemónico.

Si a ello se unen factores inalterados, propios de la región, como la polaridad ideológica o el nacionalismo westfaliano, y factores coyunturales como la crisis política y económica actual de Brasil o Venezuela, o la emergencia de iniciativas de nuevo regionalismo como la Alianza del Pacífico, es posible entender el momento de incertidumbre que ha acompañado al regionalismo latinoamericano en las últimas dos décadas.

Author: Jerónimo Ríos Sierra
Spanish Title: La Unión de Naciones Americanas y la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América: ¿Otra Década Pérdida?
Full document: 2017, Ríos, La Unión de Naciones Suramericana y la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos ¿Otra Década Pérdida?