Rise and fall of Unasur

Ideology, foreign policy and regional integration based on the cases of Argentina and Brazil

Abstract

This article aims to analyze and identify from a historical-comparative perspective what explains the rise and decline of Unasur. The study examines the period from 2008 to 2022 and characterizes it through the political and ideological particularities in South America, especially with regard to external political consonances, covered by the turn of the pink wave and conservative wave phenomena. The main hypothesis is that ideological convergence and divergence influence the South American context and the trends and types of regional cooperation. Two crucial nations for the analysis are Argentina and Brazil which, through government transitions and ideologies in power, influence changes in the type of interaction and regional integration through their foreign policies. As a result, Unasur entered into a process of emptying itself under criticism of a political-ideological bias.