Latin American regionalism and integration in the ongoing process of hegemonic transition

Abstract

When observing the critical balance of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in the 21st century, caught between the withdrawal of the United States and the rise of China in the global and regional political and economic stage, one cannot but wonder on what course the processes of regional integration and regionalism will follow in Latin America and the Caribbean in this context. Our hypothesis is that regionalism and the processes of regional integration cannot be understood as “autonomist” processes—that is, as mere processes of facilitating consensus between different regional political actors—but must rather be perceived as a convergence with extraregional hegemonic powers, even amidst an absolute ideological diversity. Therefore, this work looks into the changes taking place within regionalism and the schemes of regional integration led by the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in the face of the ongoing anomalous and interstitial process of hegemonic transition from the United States to China that appears to be taking place; these are, undoubtedly, the extraregional references shaping LAC regionalism in the 21st century.