Past and Present of Latin American Crossroads between Atlantic and Pacific Worlds: Globalization and Regional Perspectives

RICARDO CICERCHIA (COORDINATOR) Y ANGELA THOMPSON (CO-COORDINATOR)

Viena

Congreso; 54° CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL DE AMERICANISTAS (ICA); 2012

CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL DE AMERICANISTAS (ICA).

ICA 54 15 - 20 de julio, 2012, Viena   SYMPOSIUM ABSTRACT   PAST AND PRESENT OF LATIN AMERICAN CROSSROADS BETWEEN ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC WORLDS: GLOBALIZATION AND REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES     COORDINATOR RICARDO CICERCHIA, UNIVERSITY OF BUENOS AIRES CO-COORDINATOR ANGELA THOMPSON, EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY                 The recent economic crises have confirmed that the world economy is at the peak of the third phase of globalization according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL). The Commission argues that this process should be analyzed not exclusively using economic approaches but also utilizing social, cultural, political, and historical perspectives in order to best understand how globalization and its antecedents affect and have affected decision-making in civil society.  Latin America has long served as the crossroads to the global economy with profound consequences for the societies in the region and beyond. This Symposium will analyze globalization and regional integration by identifying the fundamental variables need to study institutional policies and decision-making practices related to social actors affected by these decisions, both past and present.  The Symposium proposed here continues the discussion begun in our Symposium “Globalization and Regional Perspectives: Asia-Pacific and Latin American Crossroads”, presented at the 53rd Congress meeting in 2009 in Mexico City.                           The papers presented in the Symposium will emphasize an interdisciplinary encounter between past and present of the socio-cultural effects of this process as they relate to political science, history, economy, and cultural studies and they will apply a comparative and statistical methodology in order to:   1)     Analyze the dynamics of old and new social movements in civil society that impact political and economic decision-making; the redefinition of citizenship necessary for a new cultural cohesion; and the tensions between cultural globalization and national-ethnic identities. 2)     Identify the specific processes of public policy formation on the rural and urban labor markets; on stimulation of exports by small and medium-sized businesses; and on the development of product chains, alliances and clusters. 3)     Discuss the new structural integration by studying national and regional behavior in the multipolar international economy and in regional and transregional integration.