International relations from the south: A regional research agenda for global IR

Abstract

Mainstream international relations (IR) has been built as an extension of imperial concerns. Thus, a restricted focus, even a self-styled demarcation was born: letat ćest moi. This organizational boundary-setting left behind a good deal of the way the discipline evolved in other areas of the world. In this sense, Latin America has been caught between North– South and Western–non-Western traditions, emerging with questions, problems, and challenges different from those of European and North American scholars. Throughout history, Latin-American IR studies have been marginalized from Western mainstream IR approaches, being a theory adopter but not a theory exporter. However, Latin-American IR is not new. We can trace its roots to the nineteenth century when the processes of nation-building arose as a result of the end of the European occupations. Since then, an idea of region started to develop and, with it, several shared approaches to IR emerged. This article aims to bring the Latin-American IR agenda on regionalism into light both in terms of issues and traditions, challenging the conventional wisdom about the sources of IR theory and proving evidence that Latin-American scholars and policymakers made notable contributions that flourished on the edges of the mainstream.