A identidade sul-americana no século XXI: um estudo sob a perspectiva de Alexander Wendt

Abstract

Benefiting from a favorable and harmonious international context in the subcontinent, for many years South America was able to experience an intense process of rapprochment and consequent regional integration among its 12 member countries. This process, under the leadership of progressive parties, brought numerous benefits mainly in the social field. But the reversal of the international context and the change in the ideological orientation of the leaders began to question the direction of South American relations. With the neglect of several social goals, stagnation of the evolution of the institutions already created and greater emphasis on commercial development, it is clear that changes are under way. Thus, considering the extensive agent/structure debate that exists in the field of International Relations and the need for an analysis that includes the identities and interests of the States, it is used the constructivist theory of the one that was able to build a bridge between different sides of the field, embracing not only material factors but giving the emphasis that ideas needed: Alexander Wendt. Through a constructivist perspective, it becomes clearer and more precise the understanding of the events that are happening in the subcontinent, and the possibles shapes that these may assume in the future. It is questioned then, would these transformations be structural changes, that is, a return of the lockean culture to the hobbesian? It is argued that these events do not have enough strenght for a return of cultures and a consequente structural change. It seeks, then, to elucidate South American interests and identify the points of inflection; analyze the structure they are inserted and discuss about the possibilities of change.