文章基本信息

标题：Is Brazil a Geoeconomic Node? Geography, Public Policy, and the Failure of Economic Integration in South America
本地全文：下载
作者：Sören Scholvin ; Andrés Malamud
期刊名称：Brazilian Political Science Review
电子版ISSN：1981-3821
出版年度：2020
卷号：14
期号：2
页码：1-39
DOI：10.1590/1981-3821202000020004
语种：English
出版社：Brazilian Political Science Association
摘要：Brazil has been labeled an anchor country, a leading area, and a regional power. Yet, even before the crisis triggered by Operation ‘Car Wash’ began, several scholars had called into question Brazil’s driving role in regional integration, stressing political challenges and economic weaknesses that hindered closer relationships among the South American countries. More optimistic research tends to concentrate on initiatives and visions of Brazil’s regional leadership, with lesser focus on obstacles and implementation. We develop the concept of ‘geoeconomic nodality’ to assess Brazi’s impact on South America and shed light on the structural sources of economic fragmentation, namely geographical conditions and their interaction with public policies. A geoeconomic node is the core of economic networks in a geographically delimited system. The flows of the system’s units are focused on the node, enabling it to transfer impulses for development – and reflecting what the concepts on anchor countries, leading areas, and regional powers suggest. Our findings show that long distances, physical barriers, the maritime orientation of core zones of population and economic activity, and the poor state of transcontinental infrastructure reduce Brazil’s geoeconomic nodality. Resource nationalism, volatile public policies, and fluctuating exchange rates contribute to this structural mix, so that the prospects to overcome the obstacles imposed by geography appear dim.