The Conceptual Making of Delimitation and Bordering Processes: South America’s Platine Region (19th-20th c.)

Abstract

This article focuses on the Platine region —the area around the River Plate basin straddling five South American states: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. It undertakes a rough reconstruction of the delimitation processes that took place in the region, and seeks to identify and order the core initiatives that led to the formation of unilateral and bilateral regulatory devices across borders. Mainly, my insights are drawn from the legislation adopted by each of the countries (laws, constitutions) and among states (agreements, protocols). The focus is on two specific concepts: delimitation and bordering. The article manages largely to reconstruct the regional border system that allowed the differentiation of territories, but also their rapprochement and the maintenance of certain power balances, despite the asymmetries and rivalries extant throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.