Resilience of Regionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean: Development and Autonomy 1st ed. 2013 Edition

‘This collection of writings from leading experts is an important contribution for understanding the resilience of the economic and political regionalism in Latin America. The volume provides a broad-range assessment of Latin America regional integration initiatives from the proposals of early years of independence to current integration schemes. Drawing from approaches of political economy and historical sociology, this volume brings together an interesting set of case studies of the path of regional integration in the Andean region, Central America and the Caribbean as well as the national perspectives on regionalism in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. This provides an innovative approach to the issue that make this book a reference for all who follow Latin American regionalism.’ – Shigeru Kochi, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo

‘The analysis of the role of ideas in historical processes is not frequent, particularly in studies concerning Latin American regional integration. The mainstream work in this area has been mostly concerned with economic, political or geopolitical variables, explaining the origin, progress or failure of integration initiatives. Moreover, few studies have tried to understand integration processes by analyzing the diversity in ideas and visions across countries in the region, from an historical perspective. This book represent a good contribution to fills this vacuum. With the participation of qualified multidisciplinary team from different countries, it deepens in the discussion of regional integration from various disciplinary, national and sub-regional vantage points. The studies presented here, represent a useful tool for policy makers and scholars, to achieve a better understanding of the evolution of Latin American integration processes. It does also help us to think about the future.’ – Maria Susana Arrosa Soares, Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

‘Resilience of Regionalism in Latin America and the Caribbean is an ambitious attempt to explain the persistence of the regionalist idea in Latin America despite repeated failed attempts at regional integration… It does an excellent job of showing the long tradition of continuing support of the idea of integration among Latin American thinkers and political elites, from the earlier days of independence to Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian proposal.’ – Latin American Politics and Society