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 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.