ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines how critical theory and Strange's idea of structural power can be used to understand South American engagement with global governance as part of a process of carving out the space necessary for an autonomous re-interpretation and application of prevailing global governance norms. The use of the Organization of American States as a forum for discussing and managing regional issues quite literally concretizes the very structural power relationships that South American countries have long critiqued as a central barrier to their national development. The chapter explores how do countries in the Americas go about carving the space they need for the autonomous normative interpretation, innovation and implementation necessary to advance their national and regional development projects. The emphasis in South American global governance engagement has been on broadening the understanding of existing rules and ideologies to allow for inclusion of the developmental priorities common throughout the region, but not of central concern to traditional centres of international power.
