Brazil and the institutionalization of South America: from hemispheric estrangement to cooperative hegemony

• Main Author: Carlos Gustavo Poggio Teixeira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais 2011-01-01
• Series: Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional
• Subjects: Política Externa Brasileira; Alca; América do Sul
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-73292011000200010&lng=en&tlng=en

This article argues that Brazil went from a posture of estrangement in relation to the hemispheric project represented by the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to a strategy of cooperative hegemony aimed at institutionalizing the South American space and increasing the costs of the FTAA for the United States. Although Brazil was initially isolated, US lack of leadership combined with events at the subregional level ended up turning the tide in the direction of Brazilian interests. These factors help to understand the current institutional configuration of South America.