Neopresidentialism and the hierarchy of power in Latin American Integration: UNASUR as a case study/Neopresidencialismo y jerarquia de poder en la integracion latinoamericana: UNASUR como caso de estudio.

• Author: Ruvalcaba, Daniel Morales
• Position: Texto en ingl

INTRODUCTION

The expression of neopresidentialism has in common with the US presidentialism only the name, since in its form it is more similar to the democratic constitutionality with a strict hierarchy in the structure of political power that was configured in the first years of Napoleon Bonaparte's regime. In that sense, neopresidentialism, according to Karl Loewenstein, "is fundamentally authoritarian by virtue of the exclusion of the recipients of po-wer from an effective participation in the formation of the state will; [...] it does not do without a parliament, cabinet and formally independent courts; however, these institutions are strictly subject to the head of the State in the hierarchy of the conformation of power (Loewenstein, 1979, p. 85). In a premonitory manner for the Latin American political systems of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, Loewenstein would notice that neopresidentialism usually manifests itself during the process of the transition from autocracy to authentic democracy.

Indeed, during the last decades the Latin American States have distinguished themselves, in internal politics, by the concentration of power around the head of the Executive (Lanzaro, 2001; Carpizo, 2006; Alcántara, Barragán, & Sánchez, 2016; Hurtado, 2001, pp. 15-65) and, in foreign policy, by the differentiated weight between social actors and governmental agents, highlighting the marginal participation of civil society in foreign policy. This monopoly of the Latin American presidents in affairs of foreign policy is enshrined in the institutionality of the regional integration organizations (Jenne, Schenoni, & Urdinez, 2017; Baracaldo & Chenou, 2019) and, for the case study presented here, in the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR, for its acronym in Spanish).

As part of the institutional bodies established by UNASUR, the most important of these is the Council of Heads of State and Government (CJEG, for its acronym in Spanish). As its name indicates, it is made up of the highest authorities of each of the member states (holders of executive power). The CJEG has been endowed with a Pro Tempore Presidency (PTP) that is exercised successively by each of the member states, in alphabetical order, for annual periods. It is possible to point out that the PTP, supported by the General Secretariat, marks the pulse of South American integration, since among its functions are those of preparing and presiding over the meetings of UNASUR bodies, pres enting the annual program of activities, representing UNASUR in international events and signing statements with third parties.

The hypothesis put forward here is that Latin American neopresidentialism, with its specificities of concentration of power in decision-making at the national level, is replicated in regional institutions in two senses: on one hand, presidents self-constitute as the highest level of management of integration, without their decisions being subject to supranational checks and balances mechanisms; on the other hand, they replicate the logic of national neopresidentialism by installing a Pro Tempore Presidency, a kind of "presidency of the presidencies", which becomes the organ that marks the pulse of the integrating process. The absence of mechanisms that exercise some type of checks and balances on the decisions of the presidents at the regional level, configures an essentially intergovernmental integration model which (Mijares & Nolte, 2018, p. 106), combined with the logic of hierarchy of power in the international order, ends privileging to the most powerful countries, in such a way that the topics of the agenda that are promoted from the intergovernmental regional institutions are those that interest the countries that are better positioned in the international structure and possess greater capacities to implement the agreements.

The purpose of this document is to examine the role of Latin American presidents in regional integration, taking UNASUR as a case study. To do this, it will review all the PTPS from the UNASUR'S foundation in 2008 until its suspension in 2019.

1. THE HIERARCHY OF POWER IN SOUTH AMERICA

   The starting point is that the scope and maneuvering of the Latin American presidents is conditioned by the national power endowment existing in the State that each one governs. In that sense, the theoretical-methodological basis starts from the works "El sistema latinoamericano de naciones: un análisis estructural" (Galtung, Mora, & Schwartzman, 1966), "International Structure and International Integration: the case of Latin America" (Reinton, 1967), and "Las promesas del ascenso estructural de los países de América Latina y el Caribe" (Morales & Rocha, 2015), that complement each other in their efforts to determine the hierarchy of power in Latin America. Continuing with the perspective drawn in the last work mentioned, the World Power Index (WPI) (1) prefigures the South American hierarchy of power in the following way:

   With the greatest endowment of power in South America, Brazil and Argentina are placed highest: Brazil is a consolidated regional power (Nolte, 2006; Soares de Lima & Hirst, 2006; Gomes, 2012), while Argentina is in the process of re-emergence as a regional power (Miranda, 2011; Bueno, 2016).

   Afterwards is, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela. These three countries occupy a high structural position, but lower than the previous one: Chile can be characterized as a secondary regional State (Wehner, 2015; Morales, 2020), that is to say, a State structurally placed in the lower part of the semi-periphery without the material capacities to compete with the regional powers; while Colombia and Venezuela are two subregional powers (Morales, Rocha, & Durán, 2016; Tzili, 2017; Iñiguez-Torres, 2017). These three countries are key players in the definition, construction, and governance of South America.

   In an intermediate position of the graph are Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay. Although this group has not achieved a structural position as outstanding as the previous ones, these three have been substantially improving their national power in the last decade, a fact that makes them relevant actors in the context of South America.

   Below, two countries are distinguished by their smaller amount of national power. Bolivia and Paraguay lack material capacities, but also semi-material and immaterial capacities. All this means that their contribution to the integration process can be significant, but it has a lesser impact and durability than all the previous countries.

   In the lower part of the hierarchy of power in South America it is possible to find two countries with very small national capacities: Suriname and Guyana. Their remarkably low levels of national power limit their leadership, possibilities for maneuvering and contributions to regional integration.

   In summary, Brazil and Argentina are precisely the mainstays of South American integration, with a notable preponderance of the former (Schenoni & Actis, 2014; Giaever & Schofield, 2016); but also, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela are decisive actors that can either promote the process or, failing that, hinder it (as has happened in recent years due to the crisis with Caracas).

2. ANALYSIS OF UNASUR PRESIDENCIES PRO TEMPORE: 2008-2019

   As stated above, the topics of the agenda that are promoted from the regional integration are according to the interest and capacities the countries that are better positioned in the international structure. To understand the dynamics of UNASUR, from this structural perspective, the actions and main achievements of each South American country will be analyzed during its Pro Tempore Presidency in the following section.

   1. Presidency of Chile: May 23, 2008-August 10, 2009

      On May 23, 2008, UNASUR was founded in the city of Brasilia. In an extraordinary session, the South American leaders, accompanied by their Ministers of Foreign Affairs and their respective delegates, signed the Constitutive Treaty of UNASUR. From this day to August 10, 2009, the first official PTP of the UNASUR will fall to the Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, who will have to manage several institutional problems, the most important being the resignation of the individual who should have become the first Secretary General of UNASUR.

      1.1. Resignation of Rodrigo Borja to the position of General Secretary

      The first problem that the PTP had to face was the resignation of the candidate to head the General Secretariat. Rodrigo Borja, who was president of Ecuador from 1988 to 1992, was nominated by Hugo Chávez and Rafael Correa to be the first Secretary General of UNASUR and to collaborate in the drafting of the statutes of the bloc. This offer was formalized thanks to the consensus reached at the end of the First South American Energy Summit held on April 17, 2007 on Isla Margarita, Venezuela. At that time, Rodrigo Borja was very pleased and accepted the proposal. However, what happened between 2007 and 2008 was completely unexpected.

      After the Margarita Summit, the Council of Delegates (or also named, at that time, the Political Commission) had the task of creating the draft Constitutive Treaty of the UNASUR and Rodrigo Borja, as candidate for General Secretary participated with the approach of perspectives and formulation of proposals. But Borja overestimated his own role and the supranational vocation of the nascent block, because he came to consider: "UNASUR, to be effective, must encompass the two sub-regional integration entities that operate in our South America: the Andean Community and the MERCOSUR" (Telerama, 2008). In other words, Borja considered it to be inadmissible to add another regional integration organization to the two existing ones and requested that UNASUR replace them. However, this perspective differed from the vision of the South American delegates, who had the task of preserving the Andean Community and MERCOSUR. Evidently the state...