Border expansion, South American infrastructure and integration megaprojects

Abstract

The analysis of the relationship between developmentalist policies and social and territorial dynamics in the Amazon usually focuses on a Brazilian national perspective. This article aims to reveal an increase of interest in the exploitation of the region's natural resources, beyond its political borders, thus turning the Pan-Amazon into a vital zone in Brazilian geopolitics. The Brazilian Growth Acceleration Programs (PAC I and II) and the Initiative for the Integration of the Regional Infrastructure of South America (IIRSA) follow the same direction of a competitive integration, adopting a modernization model based on investment megaprojects. The IIRSA, carried on in South America as a regional block, and the PAC, developed nationwide, are programs that aim to boost transport, energy and communication logistics. Continent-wise, they both indicate irreversible social and territorial dynamics and represent the common interests of Brazil and the other countries, based on the 1970's dominant model of border expansion in the Amazon.