Cooperative Hegemony and Summitry in the Americas

Abstract

As an instrument for governance, summitry is a novel structure for the management of contemporary hemispheric regionalism in the Americas. Such regionalism is a clear case of the “structuralist paradox” of international cooperation. This article attempts to explain the particular asymmetric regionalism in the Americas by using the concept of cooperative hegemony. The underlying hypothesis is that the U.S. government, since 1994, has pursued a strategy of cooperative behavior, at least in regard to power sharing, in two specific phases of hemispheric regionalism: agenda setting and institutionalization. This study tests the hypothesis through a content analysis of the main documents produced at the Miami, Santiago, and Quebec summits, then relates these findings to the progress of institutionalization from 1994 to 2003.

Whither the Push and Pull for Integration: Taking Stock of Latin America's Declaratory Regionalism

“…In line with a classical realist point of view, Mace and Loiseau (2005) have argued that the Summits of the Americas constitute a cooperative form of hegemony through which the US has sought to re-engage its own region (see also Grugel, 1996). The conclusion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA: 1992), the first US-promoted sub-regional integration framework that brings the United States together with Canada and one Latin American country, is another example of how the United States institutionalized the prevailing post-Cold War order.…”