Neopresidentialism and the hierarchy of power in Latin American Integration

Abstract

The process of building Latin American autonomy through regional integration has lost its momentum in recent years and in some cases, are seriously questioned. The hypothesis put forward here is that Latin American neopresidentialism is replicated in regional institutions configurating an essentially intergovernmental integration model which, combined with the logic of the hierarchy of power in the international order, ends up giving privileges to the most powerful countries. Thus, the agendas promoted from the regional and subregional Latin American organizations are those that interest the countries that are better positioned in the international structure and possess greater capacities to implement the agreements. Taking the “Unión de Naciones Suramericanas” (UNASUR) as a case study, is possible to * Special acknowledgments to Garrett Thompson for his professional support in reviewing this work. * Doctor en Ciencias Sociales (Universidad de Guadalajara), Maestro en Estudios Contemporáneos de América Latina (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) y Licenciado en Estudios Internacionales (Universidad de Guadalajara). Actualmente es investigador en el Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Universidad Sun Yat-sen (China) y miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (México). Ha trabajado como profesor en universidades de México, España, Polonia y China. Además, ha realizado estancias de investigación en la Universidad de la República, en el Centre de Recherches Internationales (Sciences Po) y en la Universidad Maria Curie-Skłodowska. Correo electrónico: morales@mail.sysu.edu.cn. ORCID: https://orcid. org/0000-0002-4304-3831. Recibido: 09 de febrero de 2020. Modificado: 28 de junio de 2020. Aceptado: 29 de junio de 2020. Estudios Internacionales 197 (2020) • Universidad de Chile 40 corroborate that neopresidentialism and the hierarchy of power have conditioned the institutionality and agenda of this organization, placing the political ideology of the presidents and national interests above the regional interests.