A INSTITUTIONAL PLURALITY AS A POLITICAL TOOL IN SOUTH AMERICA: OVERLAPPING ORGANIZATIONS AND REGIONAL FRAGMENTATION

Abstract

This article analyzes the meanings of the plurality of regional organizations in South America for the construction of a regional project, with the objective of reflecting on the implications of the so-called overlapping regionalism, demonstrating their contributions to institutional crises, stagnation and collapse of some processes, underscoring the possibility of disintegration, or fragmentation. The assumption presented here is that the profusion of regionalism processes in South America, and their consequent overlap of actions and affiliations between the blocs, especially with regard to the experiences of the first decades of the 21st century, would tend to perpetuate itself, considering the processes, actors and agendas, since the overlaps would serve as a tool to the political interests of the governments of the region, which can then prioritize their actions between projects, according to the strategies of that moment, avoiding the deepening and the consequent constraints of an integrated project. We demonstrate this aspect from the perspective of the main processes of regionalism in South America, such as MERCOSUR, UNASUR, CAN and the Pacific Alliance, and their developments, based on the implications of organizational overlaps, in view of the current crisis context.

Keywords

• regionalism
• south america
• regional blocs
• overlapping institutions
• fragmentation