The Latin American regionalism in the first decade of the XXI century: rethinking the idea of autonomy

Abstract

The new century has brought important transformations to the international system that highlight the changes in power relations, cooperation and conflict among the actors that are part of it. In Latin America, the changes experienced in the first decade of the 21st century have led to the resurgence of new regionalization projects, such as ALBA, UNASUR and CELAC, and with those changes the debates on regional integration, new Latin American regionalism and South cooperation have been revitalized.

This poses a theoretical challenge related to the interpretation of regionalism from a Latin American perspective of international relations; and a practical challenge regarding the characterization and validity of the idea of autonomy in the contemporary era. The objective of this article is to highlight the main theoretical considerations around the constant aspiration of Latin American countries to achieve greater margins of autonomy in foreign policy strategies considering a critical and pluralistic point of view of international relations.