South-South relations in a changing economic landscape: South America political and trade relations with Southeast Asia, 2007-2010

PAOLA ANDREA BARONI; MARÍA FLORENCIA RUBIOLO

Madrid

Congreso; XXII Congreso Mundial; 2012

International Political Science Association (IPSA)

The studies regarding the links between South America and South East Asia have not received enough attention from the academia in the two regions. This phenomenon shows the limited importance of the interregional and bilateral relations among the countries of both regions. This can be due to historical, cultural and political reasons, besides geographical ones. However, nowadays more constant ties can be observed, which are caused by the growth of world trade interdependence, the development of the communications and means of transportation, and the extension of export led growth strategies, among other phenomena. Our objective is to carry out a diagnosis of the interregional relations through an analysis of the commercial and political links among the main economies of South America and its counterparts in SEA. Also, we will analyze the potential of SEA for the regional economies, as an alternative to the international insertion through diversification of markets and products. We will take the cases of Argentina, Brazil and Chile since, in 2010, they represented the 89% of the South American exports to SEA. We consider that this paper will be an important contribution to the studies of South-South relations that, even though being abundant in the hemisphere, have overlooked the relations between these two regions.