African and Latin American regionalism

Abstract

The South is not a geographical concept, but a condition: the condition of being vulnerable and with few possibilities to change the rules of the game. The South comprises a group of developing countries belonging to the periphery, which share similar challenges and need to cooperate to gain political and economic autonomy. The complexity and heterogeneity that characterise peripheral interregionalisms prevent the direct application of triadic classifications of a tripolar world order based on the United States of America (USA), the European Union and East Asia. Latin American (LA) and African countries are not homogeneous groups, since they have their own particularities and specificities. In the case of Africa, after the decolonisation process, there was a promotion of regional cooperation and integration schemes. In a post-cold war neoliberal systemic context during the 1990s, both regions started the ‘open regionalism’ stage, adopting new integration strategies before the emerging globalisation.