“Soft” integration and “rigid” trade

by Eduardo Gudynas – There is a proliferation of different discourses on integration in Latin America in which it is conceived particularly in the form of trade agreements while other critical issues are overlooked, such as the changes in cultural patterns or the inheritance of neo-liberal reforms. Eduardo Gudynas argues that by ignoring this other essential dimensions, the region is experiencing a “soft integration” sustained by a diffuse discourse that does not generate much in the way of concrete measures, or achieve a political backbone. A new regional programme must take on the political reconstruction of societies that have changed substantially.

Published in Third World Resurgence Nº 177 (2005). Download …