Regional Integration in Latin America: Dawn of an Alternative to Neoliberalism?1

Abstract

At the turn of the century, it seemed inevitable that regional integration in Latin America would occur under the rubric of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and US hegemony. But 2005—the year the FTAA was to have been launched—has come and gone, and the whole FTAA project is in tatters. This article will examine two regional integration initiatives, which have emerged in its wake—the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). Both represent a challenge to US-led integration. However, the Venezuelan-centered ALBA is potentially a much more radical challenge to neoliberalism than the Brazilian-centered UNASUR.