TY - JOUR
T1 - Institutionalising a Radical Region? The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America
AU - Emerson, R. Guy
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - This paper explores the diplomatic potential of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP). It does so by refusing to take the region as a fixed, given actor and, instead, suggests that regional organisation is better understood as a process of construction that involves diverse actors and a plurality of interests. Rather than assuming commonality - be it a shared series of beliefs, or, in a more practical sense, a collective policy position - the paper examines the process in which certain beliefs and expectations come to be shared (or resisted). Far from forestalling collective action, however, in acknowledging this instability the paper also reveals how ALBA-TCP has the capacity to affect inter-American relations. It highlights how the potential re-admission of Cuba into diplomatic institutions within the Americas, combined with the regional response to the 2009 Honduran golpe, demonstrates both the limits and possibilities of ALBA-TCP as a diplomatic actor in the Americas.
AB - This paper explores the diplomatic potential of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP). It does so by refusing to take the region as a fixed, given actor and, instead, suggests that regional organisation is better understood as a process of construction that involves diverse actors and a plurality of interests. Rather than assuming commonality - be it a shared series of beliefs, or, in a more practical sense, a collective policy position - the paper examines the process in which certain beliefs and expectations come to be shared (or resisted). Far from forestalling collective action, however, in acknowledging this instability the paper also reveals how ALBA-TCP has the capacity to affect inter-American relations. It highlights how the potential re-admission of Cuba into diplomatic institutions within the Americas, combined with the regional response to the 2009 Honduran golpe, demonstrates both the limits and possibilities of ALBA-TCP as a diplomatic actor in the Americas.
KW - ALBA
KW - Chávez
KW - Latin America
KW - Unasur
KW - Venezuela
KW - regionalism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891880651&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13260219.2013.853352
DO - 10.1080/13260219.2013.853352
M3 - Article
SN - 1326-0219
VL - 19
SP - 194
EP - 210
JO - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research
JF - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research
IS - 2
ER -