Regional integration is one of the key characteristics of regions in the 21st century. In Latin America over the last two decades a new regional architecture has been developed comprising old economic integration efforts (Andean Community, MERCOSUR) and new, more general fora (UNASUR, ALBA, CALC) that point out in divergent directions. The present overview of Latin American regional integration aims at exploring the implications of this situation. We will explore first the historical bases of integration and, second, the organizations that appear in the 21st century in order to discuss how changes in objectives and regional and global contexts are affecting the region’s insertion in the international system.
Dr. Rita Giacalone, a Visiting Fellow at the Latin American Research Centre at the University of Calgary, is Professor of Economic History, Department of Economics, Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela), and Coordinator of GRUDIR (Regional Integration Research Group). She was Director of the School of Political Science, Coordinator of REDINRE (an ALFA Program network of European and Latin American universities), and Editor of Revista Venezolana de Ciencia Política and of Revista Agroalimentaria. She has been a Visiting Professor at University of Pennsylvania, Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Universidad Autónoma de México, Universidad de La Plata (Argentina), and Stockholm University. She holds a Ph.D. in History from Indiana University, and has been beneficiary of a Fulbright-Hayes Scholarship. Her latest publications include “Anti-Americanism and Trade Policy in Brazil and France” (co-author: Gerry Alons) Revista Iberoamericana (Stockholm) 43 (1-2) (2013), “Latin American Answers to Mega-Regional Projects: Options and Limits” in J. Roy (ed.) A New Atlantic Community. The European Union, the US and Latin America. Miami: Jean Monnet Chair-University of Miami, 2015, and Geopolítica y Geo-economía en el proceso globalizador. Bogotá: Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, 2016.
