REGIONALISM IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE AFRICAN UNION AND UNASUR

Öz

This study analyzes how regionalism is shaped and how it functions in the Global South by examining the African Union (AU) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) comparatively. The main problem of the research is why regional integration initiatives in the Global South produce different institutional designs, governance capacities, and political outcomes despite similar colonial experiences, development constraints, and asymmetric international structures. Methodologically, the study employs a qualitative comparative analysis based on document review, institutional comparison, and thematic coding of policy texts and academic literature. The research is grounded in a wide literature on regionalism, post-hegemonic integration, Pan-Africanism, South American regional mechanisms, and governance models of the Global South. The findings show that although both AU and UNASUR aim to strengthen regional autonomy and collective action capacity, their paths diverge: while the AU makes progress in institutional integration and security-centered cooperation, UNASUR experiences fragmentation due to political polarization and a weakening supranational structure. The study also reveals that structural conditions, leadership dynamics, and regional security architecture decisively affect institutional resilience. The study’s original contribution lies in offering an analytical framework linking Global South regionalism to institutional capacity, providing a new perspective on regionalism debates in the South.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Regionalism
• Global south
• African Union
• UNASUR
• Institutional capacity

Kaynakça

1. African Union (AU). (2015). African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) Roadmap 2016-2020. Peace and Security Department. Addis Ababa: African Union Commission.
2. AMANI AFRICA. (2026, August 12). Revitalising African Union’s role in peace and security in Africa: Insights and lessons from AU’s ad hoc mechanisms for peace. Special Research Reports.
3. Apollos, D. (2023, August 2). Linkages between AfCFTA and Peace Fund, a path to sustainable development: Op-Ed by AU Director, Peace Fund Secretariat. AU Commission. https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20230802/linkages-between-afcfta-and-peace-fund-path-sustainable-development-op-ed-au
4. AU PAP. (2024, September 19). Significant progress on AfCFTA implementation highlighted at the Conference of Speakers of Parliaments. https://pap.au.int/en/news/press-releases/2024-09-19/significant-progress-afcfta-implementation-highlighted-conference-s
5. AU. (2000). Constitutive Act of the African Union. Togo: Lome.
6. AU. (2007). African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. Addis Ababa: 8th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly.
7. AU. (n.d.). AGA-APSA Secretariat. AU PAPS. https://www.aupaps.org/en/page/115-aga-apsa-synergies
8. Bah, A. S., Choge-Nyangoro, E., Dersso, S., Mofya, B. & Murithi, T. (2014). The African peace and security architecture: A handbook. Addis Ababa: FES.

9. Barros, P. S. & Gonçalves, J. D. S. B. (2021). Crisis in South American regionalism and Brazilian protagonism in Unasur, the Lima Group and Prosur. Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, 64(2). https://doi.org/10.1590/0034-7329202100209
10. Breitegger, M. S. (2020). Meddling by consent? Brazil’s strategy of democracy promotion through UNASUR. PhD Thesis, Stellenbosch University. Retrieved, December 8, 2025, from https://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/10019.1/109184/1/breitegger_meddling_2020.pdf
11. Briceño Ruiz, J. (2018). Times of Change in Latin American Regionalism. Contexto Internacional, 40(3): 573-594. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-8529.2018400300008
12. Bullard, E. (2025). Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). EBSCO Research. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/politics-and-government/union-south-american-nations-unasur
13. Burges, S. W. (2008). Consensual Hegemony: Theorizing Brazilian Foreign Policy after the Cold War. International Relations, 22(1): 65-84.
14. CEPR. (2022, October 18). Toward a new UNASUR: Pathways for the reactivation of South American integration. Centre for Economic Policy Research. Retrieved, December 11, 2025, from https://cepr.net/publications/toward-a-new-unasur-pathways-for-the-reactivation-of-south-american-integration/
15. Chingono, M. & Nakana, S. (2009). The challenges of regional integration in Southern Africa. African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, Vol. 3 (10), p. 396-408.
16. Cilliers, J. & Mashele, P. (2004). The Pan African Parliament: A Plenary of Parliamentarians. African Security Review, 13(4).
17. Çoban, H. M. & Ribeiro, J. D. (2024). Regionalization Practices in Latin America: A Dream of Integration? The Turkish Yearbook of International Relations. DOI: 10.58699/tyir.1587808
18. EU Court of Auditors. (2018). Special report (APSA): The African Peace and Security Architecture: need to refocus EU support. No: 20. Curia Rationum.
19. Fawcett, L. & Gandois, H. (2010). Regionalism in Africa and the Middle East: Implications for EU Studies. Journal of European Integration, 32(6), 617-636.
20. Fioramonti, L. & Mattheis, F. (2016). Is Africa really following Europe? An integrated framework for comparative regionalism. Journal of Common Market Studies, 54(3), 674-690. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12307
21. Fombad, C. M. (2006). The African Union, Democracy and Good Governance, in H. Melber (ed.). AU, NEPAD and the APRM: Democratisation Efforts Explored. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute. Hettne, B. (2005). Beyond the ‘new’ regionalism. New Political Economy, 10(4), 543–571. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563460500344484
22. Hettne, B., & Söderbaum, F. (2000). Theorising the rise of regionness. New Political Economy, 5(3), 457-472. https://doi.org/10.1080/713687778
23. Hurrell, A. (2007). On global order: Power, values, and the constitution of international society. Oxford University Press.
24. Joseph, J. E. (2024). Critical factors to consider in the trade-security nexus of the African Continental Free Trade Area: A catalyst for establishing peace. African Security Review, 33(2), 131-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2024.2303459
25. Júnior, H. R. & Luciano, B. T. (2018) A comparative analysis of regionalism in the Global South: The security and defence dimension of Unasur and the African Union. South African Journal of International Affairs, 25(2), 239-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2018.1473792
26. Kibiru, J., & Onyango, C. (n.d.). Domestication, compliance and enforcement key to keeping momentum of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). COMESA. https://www.comesa.int/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Keeping-the-AfCFTA-on-Track.docx.pdf
27. Kingah, S. S. (2013). African Union. Retrieved December 10, 2025, from https://www.internationaldemocracywatch.org/images/pdf_volume_online/african_union_kingah.pdf
28. Landázuri Menoscal, C. J. (2024). The vitality and revitalization of international organizations: The case of UNASUR [Master’s thesis, University of Potsdam]. https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-68186
29. Legler, T. (2013). Post-hegemonic regionalism and sovereignty in Latin America: Optimists, skeptics and an emerging research agenda. Contexto Internacional, 35, 2, https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-85292013000200001
30. Magoke, P. M. & Öke, M. K. (2023). Coordination Between The African Union and Regional Economic Communities Towards Achievıng Regional Integration in Africa. İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi Dış Ticaret Dergisi, Cilt 1, Sayı 1, p. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7966582
31. Malamud, A. & Gardini, G. L. (2012). Has Regionalism Peaked? The Latin American Quagmire and its Lessons. The International Spectator, 47(1), 116–133. https://doi.org/10.1080/03932729.2012.655013
32. Mashele, P. (2005). The 3rd Pan-African Parliament Session: Utility or Futility?. African Security Review,14(2).
33. Merke, F., Stuenkel, O. & Feldmann, A. E. (2021). Reimagining Regional Governance in Latin America. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved December 8, 2025, from https://carnegie-production-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/files/Merke_Stuenkel_and_Feldman_Latin_America.pdf
34. Mijares, V. & Nolte, D. (2022). UNASUR: An Eclectic Analytical Perspective of its Disintegration.
35. Colombia Internacional, 111(3), 83-109. http://journals.openedition.org/colombiaint/631
36. Nery, T. (2016). UNASUL: the political dimension of the new South American regionalism. Caderno CRH. 29 (3): 59-75. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-49792016000400005
37. Nhan Dan. (2023, June 1). South America gives priority to promoting regional integration. https://en.nhandan.vn/south-america-gives-priority-to-promoting-regional-integration-post126017.html
38. Nolte, D. (2021). From the summits to the plains: The crisis of Latin American Regionalism. Latin American Policy. 12 (1): 181-192.
39. Nyagah, N. (2025, July 4). A five-year review of the AfCFTA through a trade union lens. AfCFTA. https://tradeunionsinafcfta.org/a-five-year-review-of-the-afcfta-through-a-trade-union-lens/
40. Packer, C. & Rukare, D. (2002). The New African Union and its Constitutive Act. American Journal of International Law, 96(2).
41. Paixão, F. (2023, April 21). The return of Brazil and Argentina to UNASUR: A reintegration of South America? Brasil de Fato. https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2023/04/21/the-return-of-brazil-and-argentina-to-unasur-a-reintegration-of-south-america/
42. PL News. (2023, December 6). Colombia’s official return to UNASUR. https://www.plenglish.com/news/2023/12/06/colombias-official-return-to-unasur/
43. Riggirozzi, P. & Tussie, D. (2021). Post-Hegemonic regionalism. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.657.
44. Söderbaum, F. (2015). Early, old, new and comparative regionalism: the scholarly development of the field. KFG Working Paper Series, 64. Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin.
45. Söderbaum, F. (2016). Rethinking regionalism. Palgrave Macmillan.
46. Tang, J. & Zhu, Q. (2025). Policy Diffusion and Regional Environmental Cooperation in the Global
47. South. Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025). https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_75
48. UNASUR-Union of South American Nations. (2016). South American Council on Infrastructure and Planning-COSIPLAN activity report 2016. https://www.iirsa.org/admin_iirsa_web/Uploads/Documents/Activity_Report_2016_web.pdf
49. Ziccardi, N. S. (2015). Regional Multilateralism in Latin America: UNASUR, ALBA and CELAC. In Jorge I. Dominguez & Ana Covarrubias (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Latin America in the World. London: Routledge, 298-310.