ABSTRACT
In the introduction to this book, it was argued that states and state-society relationships remain a key level of analysis in the global political economy and that regionalism is a states-led project which is a response to the trends towards economic globalization. Consequently, the purpose of this chapter must be to analyse the responses of the Chilean state to the challenges of globalization, to the restructuring of the economic space across the Americas, and to the region-building initiatives of other states. Neo-liberal reforms throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), a search for new markets and for foreign investment and at least a minimal commitment to liberal democracy on the part of regional elites, as well deepening trade and diplomatic relations with the US, constitute the context in which the new regionalism is embedded. Regionalism is therefore linked to a much wider neo-liberal project in the Americas. But regionalism in Chile is not just simply a reflection of global liberalism. In fact, it repays analysis if we wish to understand in particular the politics of the new regionalism and sheds light on the kind of role the state can play in a neo-liberal and regionalized global order.
