Link to Article:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/3/south-america-a-hard-road-to-unity
Twelve South American countries came together in Brazil in an attempt to build relations for a continental unification. These efforts were led by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Despite diverse ideologies between the countries Lula hoped to rebuild the UNASUR, the union of South American Nations. He believes that South American leaders should put aside their differences and come together for the common interests of the continent’s economic growth, energy production, trade, and environmental protection. Many South American leaders agree, but despite this, they were not too keen on President Lula welcoming the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. For years Maduro has been isolated from his South American peers, but times seem to be changing. South America has economic potential with the largest copper reserve in the world and highly sought-after lithium. Despite this, the continent is still fairly far away from unity, but Lulua is hopeful. He believes that South America could function like the EU, and after all, the twelve countries are much more culturally and linguistically similar than the members of the European Union.
I believe a unified South America that is already resource-rich and growing economically could model the EU, possibly play a big part internationally, and could one day be considered a world power. But this will not be a short or easy road. Throughout history countries in South America have been limited socially and economically due to corruption, crime, and weak governance. South America has suffered political instability for a long time, especially in the 1960s to 1970s. During this time repressive nations with communist economies were gaining power in South America. Because the United States was so fearful of communism U.S.-backed military dictatorships overthrew the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay to combat the spread. These dictatorships detained thousands of political prisoners, and many of them were tortured and killed. But despite this horrible event in South America’s history, the continent has made many efforts. With this past summit, there has finally come a time when leaders from various countries aspire to make change in hopes of a unified continent.
The article and the idea that some South American leaders want to follow the model of the EU pertains to what has been discussed in class. Recently in our unit, we have learned about global actors, political, economic, military IGOs, and overall foreign policy. If South America follows the EU and becomes unified as one they may have the opportunity to become a global power and produce more global actors. Global powers also have more influence in the form of economics and the military. Most importantly, they have more of a say and influence when it comes to global matters and foreign policy For example, Russia, China, the United States, France, and Great Britain, all members of the Security Council, have veto power. This is the ability to block any resolution or decision, whatever the majority opinion is.