The rise of post-hegemonic regionalism in Latin America

Abstract

The current crisis of neoliberalism and its most recent international financial downturn represents a test of resilience for Latin America and at the same time an opportunity for ideological contestation and accommodation of political and economic projects-at domestic and regional governance levels. A growing politicization of the regional space and regional relations is part and parcel of a redefinition of what Latin Americanness should mean and how integration projects should respond to current challenges of global political economy. How are we to understand regional agreements that are grounded in different systems of rules that contest open regionalism and that are part of a complex set of alternative ideas and motivations affecting polities and policies across the region? Can we genuinely discern new regional governance beyond rhetorical rebellion against the Washington Consensus? In answering these questions we speculate on what current regional developments in Latin America mean for how we theorize regionalism beyond Europe and beyond dichotomized understandings of old and new regionalism.