Large infrastructure projects in the Argentine and South American regional space: a geopolitical analysis of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway (dec 1990)

Abstract

From a Political Ecology perspective, and taking the Paraguay–Paraná Waterway as a case study, this work analyzes, with a historical outlook, the territorial transformations in Argentina and the South American context driven by neoliberal policies during the 1990s. The approach focuses on regulatory frameworks and on infrastructural construction and modernization processes in Argentina, oriented toward the project of “regional integration.” The strategic role of large-scale projects in the reorganization of global hegemonies in the 21st century is underscored, along with their capacity to define, establish, and distribute relations among the different regions of the world’s socio-metabolism. The inquiry contributes elements for discussion and interpretation aimed at critically revisiting and rethinking, in a situated manner, both the premises underlying the design of such projects in Latin America and their purposes and local impacts, within the planetary context of climate polycrisis and the deepening of extractivism in Argentina.