How regional organizations cope with recurrent stress: the case of South America

Detlef Nolte,Brigitte Weiffen

doi:10.1590/0034-7329202100206

Abstract

Barely 15 years after the 2008 financial crisis and in a context of rising nationalism, regional organizations are facing multiple challenges. This article introduces an analytical framework that systematizes stressors and identifies characteristics that might help regional organizations to cope with stress. It draws on psychological models of how individuals cope with stress to explore how regional organizations grapple with a sequence of stress situations. Stress factors can aggravate pre-existing problems in regionalism and contribute to regional disintegration. But they can also trigger counter-reactions and strengthen the resilience of regionalism. To substantiate our arguments, we study the repercussions of two recent crises for South American regionalism: the political crisis in Venezuela and the Covid-19 pandemic. © 2021, INSTBRASILEIRORELACOESINT. All rights reserved.

Highlights

The early 21st century’s systemic shocks, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21, have exposed the weaknesses of multilateral institutions
We argue that the outcome of one stress situation has feedback effects on the coping resources, in the sense that successes in dealing with stress can strengthen regional organizations’ future resilience, whereas failures can set off or intensify trends toward disintegration
In the period in focus, South American regionalism underwent a gradual process of exhaustion and decay

Summary

Introduction

The early 21st century’s systemic shocks, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21, have exposed the weaknesses of multilateral institutions. This is evident on the regional level. Regional organizations in various world regions have gone through a sequence of crises. The European Union has struggled to cope with the Eurozone crisis, an increase in refugee flows, terrorist attacks, the surge of populism and Euroscepticism, democratic backsliding in several member states, and disintegrative tendencies, as epitomized by Brexit. In Latin America, regional cooperation has been stagnating due to the end of the commodity boom, ideological confrontations, and a lack of regional leadership.

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Conclusion