Regionalism and development in South America

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to discuss the different ways of understanding the peripheral development that have been expressed in the varied experiences of integration in South America from the middle of the XX century. We seek, at first, to understand the meanings attributed by the literature to regional integration, as well as the notion of development. In a second moment, we analyze the trajectory of the South American regionalism considering the concepts and ideas worked in the previous section, evidencing a prevalence of the notion of exogenous development in the integrationist experiences. We conclude that, despite the fact that over time the notion of development has evolved into a much more complex concept than mere economic growth, the mercantilist and liberal outlook has predominated in the objectives of South American integration processes.