LATIN AMERICA IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL DISORDER. AUTONOMY AND FOREIGN POLICY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (1989-2026)
More than thirty years after the end of the Cold War, the international system is undergoing a transformation characterized by the erosion of the order consolidated after 1989 and by the reemergence of dynamics of competition among great powers. The optimism associated with the unipolar moment has given way to a scenario of uncertainty, institutional fragmentation, and the return of geopolitics as a structuring axis of international relations. Rivalry between the United States and China, the erosion of multilateralism, and the revaluation of spheres of influence have contributed to shaping a context now described as a phase of “global disorder.”
Within this framework, Latin America offers a significant vantage point for analyzing the ways in which states seek to redefine their strategies for international insertion and preserve margins of autonomy. The most recent situation reinforces this relevance. Washington’s renewed practices of hemispheric pressure — as demonstrated by the aggression against Venezuela and the growing threats against Cuba — have reactivated historical debates on sovereignty, intervention, and autonomy in the inter-American space.
Based on these premises, the symposium aims to address these dynamics through the lens of Latin American foreign policies, understood as an instrument through which states articulate responses to the constraints and opportunities of the international system. The objective is to analyze the continuities and transformations of Latin American strategies of global insertion between the end of the Cold War and the present. Specifically, the proposal seeks to engage with the Latin American tradition of thought on autonomy, developed, among others, by Juan Carlos Puig and Hélio Jaguaribe, and enriched by the reflections of authors such as Roberto Russell and Juan Gabriel Tokatlian. This approach has placed at the center of analysis the capacity of peripheral and semi-peripheral states to expand their margins of decision in asymmetric contexts. In this sense, autonomy is not understood as absolute independence, but as the construction of capacities to formulate one’s own foreign policies within the limits imposed by the international structure. In continuity with this tradition, the concept of active non-alignment has gained relevance in contemporary debate. More than a posture of neutrality, it refers to a foreign policy strategy oriented toward avoiding automatic alignments with great powers and maximizing room for maneuver in an international system marked by strategic competition. From a historical perspective, this notion can be interpreted as an update of the Latin American autonomist tradition, adapted to the conditions of an increasingly fragmented international order.
The symposium proposes to gather contributions addressing the evolution of Latin American foreign policies, hemispheric relations, regional integration processes, and transformations of the international order from 1989 to 2026. The ultimate goal is to promote a dialogue between the history of international relations and Latin American studies, positioning the region not only as an object of analysis, but also as a space for conceptual elaboration relevant to understanding the transformations of the contemporary international system.
