Brazil’s Apparent Heyday in South America: The Various Perspectives Regarding Security

Abstract

According to some authors, (VIGEVANI,2006) Brazil has a crucial role in South America, especially regarding the process of constructing a Regional Security Complex (RSC) (BUZAN & WAEVER, 2003). Grounding their assertion on Brazil’s role as the regional paymaster (MATTLI, 2000), some say that South America could be considered as a Security Community (HURREL, 2003). Others are pessimistic claiming that South America cannot be truly considered as a security community, since the level of interaction among the political units of the South American RSC does not ensue an in-depth articulation. Another important point, is the fact that there is a weak level of articulation among the security sectors. Finally, there is a major doubt if Brazil would be able to securitize its Security Agenda in the regional arena. If not, that would stem some distrust about the existence of the RSC itself, once it’s doubtful that other countries in the Subcontinent would achieve so, if it is taken into account their political leverage. The very first part of the session aims to discuss what kind of Regional Security Complex South America could be considered. What types of issues could be considered as securitized themes in the regional level? How do security issues affect the process of integration? The second part of session intends to discuss if Brazil could be considered as a hegemonic actor regarding the securitization and desecuritization process in the RSC. What is Brazil’s real role regarding the process of constructing new-old security issues in the region?