ABSTRACT
In a development likely to reshape global power relationships, South America has become a permanent fixture of the international diplomatic and economic scene. South American international relations impinge on the way individual national foreign policy establishments collectively manage a number of occasionally overlapping and conflicting external constituencies. An analyst could suggest an essentially two-part universe of relevance to the region: the United States and a nebulous "Third World." Most observers underline the singularly economic character of much of Europe's and Japan's interests in South America. Conversely, the regional states' outreach beyond the United States toward Western Europe and Japan is likewise economically motivated, with the resulting South American psychological sense of political autonomy generating increased diplomatic byproducts in the extra-hemispheric relations. Depending on the economic or strategic considerations at stake, the extrahemispheric actors operate autonomously from the United States in the trade or investment arena or as uncomfortable adjuncts of a US-led Western alliance.
