Regionalism and infrastructure integration in South-America: an analysis of the regional crisis (2014-2022)

Author(s)

Bárbara Carvalho Neves

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo. 2023-09-18.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Políticas Públicas e Relações Internacionais. São Paulo
• Defense date: 2023-09-01
• Advisor: Marcelo Passini Mariano

Abstract

This thesis analyzes what elements explain the resilience or greater vulnerability of regional processes in South America, and why initiatives for the integration of regional infrastructure are resilient. Since 2014, relations between countries in the region have been permeated with conflicts and discontent, reaching the apex of their crisis with the dismantling of UNASUR in 2019. Even so, against the backdrop of the deepening of the crisis, initiatives in regional infrastructure had a constancy of efforts in this period, demonstrating a high interest in the continuity and execution of its projects as well as in attracting investments to the continent. Perceived resilience, in turn, was based on three central factors: 1. the expectations and demands of national interest groups; 2. the institutional capacity of existing regional mechanisms; and 3. the positioning of the South American countries in the international system and the opportunities and/or threats perceived in the face of the interests and pressure of extra-regional actors. Considering these three elements we highlight that it is in periods of crisis that the vulnerability of the Latin American space is exacerbated, expanding regional fragmentation and paving the way for the growing action of extra-regional interests such as the United States, China and, recently, the European Union, which do not necessarily respond to the integration demands that aim to overcome the socioeconomic problems that plague each South American State. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 20/04348-5 - South American regional infrastructure: an analysis facing the regional crisis and the chinese investiments advance
• Grantee: Bárbara Carvalho Neves
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate