Differentiation theory and the ontologies of regionalism in Latin America

Jochen Kleinschmidt,Pablo Gallego Pérez

doi:10.1590/0034-73292017001018

Abstract

Abstract In this article, we argue that conventional understandings of regional integration based on neo-functionalism, hitherto often used to describe the diverse projects of Latin American regionalism, are of limited utility in that context. Rather than representing processes of economic or political unification, the various regionalisms could be understood more productively as a reaction to the crisis in legitimacy that social orders in the region have experienced under the conditions of globalized modernity. We then deploy an understanding of regionalism derived from sociological differentiation theory in order to advance this argument.Keywords: Differentiation Theory; Regional Integration; International Relations Theory; Latin America; Regionalism; World Society. Received: December 13, 2016 Accepted: April 27, 2017 Introduction T he processes collectively identified as Latin American regionalism are, in the academic discipline of International Relations as well as in political and media discourse, generally described using the terminology of regional integration based implicitly or explicitly on neo-functionalism. This application of a theory originally devised to explain the establishment and expansion of supranational political structures in a European context to a geographic area with very different conditions has been problematized before in the literature (Malamud 2010). Yet, what is lacking so far is a convincing theoretical alternative able to describe Latin American regionalism on its own terms. In order to arrive at such a description, we first retrace the debates surrounding contemporary regionalist projects. We come to the conclusion that the actually interesting puzzle is not so much the question of why those projects are behind the European Union in terms of supranationalism and institutionalization, as this can be easily

Highlights

The processes collectively identified as Latin American regionalism are, in the academic discipline of International Relations as well as in political and media discourse, generally described using the terminology of regional integration based implicitly or explicitly on neo-functionalism
A more productive research question would be: If Latin American regionalism has made such little impact in political and economic terms, why are the diverse organizations highly politicized, with a strong presence in regional political debates? We utilize an understanding of region and regionalism derived from sociological systems theory and its concept of a functionally differentiated world society (Albert and Stetter 2015) in order to undertake a re-description of regionalism and of the problems that it may contribute to solving in a Latin American context
The long-standing expectation that a region with a significant common cultural and political heritage would find it comparatively easy to establish substantial forms of integration – an expectation going back at least to the Carta de Jamaica written by Simón Bolívar during the South American wars of independence, affirmatively referenced in a majority of the region’s constitutions (Herrera 2016), and at least cautiously shared by theorists of regionalism during earlier waves of Latin American attempts at integration (Haas and Schmitter 1964; Seligson 1999, 129; Muhr 2011) – has been disappointed regularly, only to re-emerge just as regularly: “Latin America in particular has a long history of truncated regional aspirations” (Riggirozzi 2012a, 428)

Summary

Introduction

The processes collectively identified as Latin American regionalism are, in the academic discipline of International Relations as well as in political and media discourse, generally described using the terminology of regional integration based implicitly or explicitly on neo-functionalism. This application of a theory originally devised to explain the establishment and expansion of supranational political structures in a European context to a geographic area with very different conditions has been problematized before in the literature (Malamud 2010).

The puzzle of latin american regionalism

The eurocentricontology of latin american regionalism

Functional differentiation as the context of regionalism

Peripheral modernity and latin american regionalism

Conclusion