L’intégration andine et ses présupposés : la région andine existe-t-elle ?

Abstract

Combining different analytical grids (historical, spatial and territorial, economical, and geopolitical) this article puts into question the existence of an Andean region and the presence of common sense of belonging in the Andean world. The recent vicissitudes of Andean integration reveals that the process of political integration of a territory coterminous with that of the Cordillera ought not to be taken for granted. Neither in the cultural heritage of the countries built on this chain of mountains, nor in the latest reformulations of territorial projects, does the Andean referent seem consensual. However, the ways in which innovative transnational territorial projects draw upon it show how the Andes oddly resurface when the political constructions based on the borders of Nation-States – whose imaginings had repressed it – are being undermined.

Keywords

• Andes
• United States
• Regional integration
• Andean Community of Nations
• Borders