Latin American Involvement in the 21st Century Geoeconomic Turn: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Abstract

In the past decade, profound political and economic transformations have reshaped the landscape of globalization and challenged the conventional notions of the liberal international order. The traditional boundaries between the economy and security realms have become blurred, giving place to a geoeconomic turn illustrated by the high utilization of economic statecraft in international politics. While much scholarly attention has been devoted to understanding the geoeconomic strategies of global powers like the US and China, the agency and roles of emerging and developing countries, notably those in Latin America, have often been overlooked. This article addresses this gap by examining how Latin American nations engage in 21st-century geoeconomic dynamics. Using qualitative comparative analysis across 18 case studies, the study assesses the conditions and key characteristics of geoeconomic actions involving Latin American countries since 2017. The article presents a typology that sheds light on the mechanisms at play within economic statecraft in the region through six different situations: (a) local geopolitical-driven economic statecraft, (b) Latin American value-driven economic statecraft, (c) extra-regional sanctions, (d) economic inducement strategy, (e) coercive strategy for strategic assets and technologies, and (f) precautionary defensive economic statecraft. The contribution is twofold: On the one hand, the article casts light on the different facets Latin American countries have in the geo-economic trends; on the other hand, the analysis and classification of these situations help understand the links between economic and strategic policies.