39001. The Union of South American Nations: Mapping Multilateralism in Transition
- Author:
- Sandra Borda
- Publication Date:
- 05-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Peace Institute
- Abstract:
- Regional politics in Latin America today are defined by a variety of trends: Brazil continues to grow, but its leadership in the region has substantially decreased during the administration of Dilma Rousseff, which began in 2011; several countries-including Argentina, Bolivia, and Venezuela-have chosen to "Latin-Americanize" their foreign policy, discarding their former alignments with the United States; left-leaning governments, clearly critical of US power in the region, have tried to consolidate organizations such as the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) to increase their autonomy vis-à-vis the United States; right and right-center governments have responded by deepening their commercial links with the United States and the European Union (EU) and by organizing the Pacific Alliance, a traditional arrangement for free-trade and freedom-of-movement; and, finally, many countries in the region are adopting-independently of their ideological and political orientations-increasingly diversified foreign policies. At the same time, the presence of extra-regional actors has become increasingly visible.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Regional Cooperation, Sovereignty, Bilateral Relations, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States, Europe, Brazil, South America, and Latin America