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This paper examines the ties between Latin America and Asia by moving beyond the homogenisation of the two regions through elevating the importance of opposition to a third party, in this case an "imperialist" and developed North. In contrast to normative analyses based on outmoded conceptions of world history, it proposes an intellectual exercise that problematises the interregional bond by placing the emphasis on heterogeneities rather than broad bush approaches that ignore the complex and diverse national and regional realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a world of growing international competition and rivalry between China and the United States, Latin America and the European Union (EU) are caught in the same thorny dilemma. Positioned between these global giants, both regions are facing a retorn to a Westphalian system of nation-states, which undermines their roles as emerging regional players. In view of these new global challenges in Latin America and the EU, this paper uses a qualitative and comparative approach to explore foreign policy discourses on autonomy in both regions. It examines their goals and priorities and assesses the potential regional and interregional consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ostensibly, Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential elections should have placed United States international policy back on a familiar path. However, despite the prevalence of a highly traditional vision of US foreign policy, the Biden administration has maintained significant continuities with the previous administration, as reflected in the policy towards China and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. In part, this is due to the constraints produced by the deep divisions that exist at domestic level. This paper aims to unravel the fundamental elements of Biden's foreign policy, focusing on possible ideological and doctrinal elements, strategic priorities, and any continuities and changes relative to his predecessor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relations between the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and China from a historical perspective. To do this it addresses the genesis and content of DAC's "altruistic paradigm" and China's "realist paradigm", highlighting their differences. It also analyses DAC's efforts and failure to co-opt China into the effective aid agenda: while China refuses to become a donor - citing its Southern identity - the DAC is resistant to recognising China as a co-operator with different responsibilities. The paper goes on to illustrate how, in order to survive "unfair competition", the DAC incorporates elements from China and the South into its narrative and cooperation practices. Lastly, China's move towards a more assertive foreign policy is explored along with the dynamic of relations between the DAC and China - between competition and convergence - in an uncertain international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the second decade of the 21st century, Mercosur is faced with two potentially influential politico-normative proposals: the EU's and China's. This paper analyses the content and scope of these two politico-normative approaches, as well as their respective impacts on the regional bloc in the context of domestic changes in the governments of Argentina and Brazil. The paper states that Mercosur has produced two external strategies: interregional with the EU and bilateral with China. There are structural limitations to this strategy as well as some that relate to Mercosur's domestic policies, but it contains the foundations for the bloc's normative convergence with these extraregional actors and ultimately a positive-sum game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines China-Latin America relations through the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in the 2011-2018 period. In this context, the main perspectives on integration and regionalism are discussed, and CELAC is shown to possess the characteristics of a regional body. It is proposed that the relationship China seeks through this body can be explained by its interest in institutionalising a mechanism for rapprochement with Latin America and the Caribbean. It is noted that CELAC is seen by China as a strategic vehicle that allows it to engage bilaterally with various countries and develop an economic strategy under structurally asymmetric conditions. However, its institutional nature has prevented it from serving these interests. As per the methodology, documentary and qualitative data analysis is made using the systematisation of an unpublished database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A little more than a decade and a half into the "Asian century", the epicentre of the global economy has moved from the North Atlantic towards East Asia at an unprecedented pace. As a correlate, China's growing expansion at global level has been gradually undermining the position of leading regional powers such as Brazil and South Africa. The displacement of their investments and the consequent loss of their regional markets, added to the growth of other medium-sized regional powers through stronger links with Beijing, have damaged both countries prospects of regional leadership. From this perspective, in contrast to the abundant literature depicting China as a great opportunity for Brazil and South Africa, this paper warns that both countries' regional importance has been diminished in favour of China, which calls the usefulness of the BRICS concept into question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses Kazakhstan's vision of long-term development and its ambitious goals. After revising the history of the infrastructure projects in the country during the tsarist period and the Soviet era, it sets out the plans of the Kazakh president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to turn the country into a logistical hub between East and West by 2050. Later, the paper puts Nazarbayev's vision in the context of the political and economic reality of Kazakhstan, focussing, specifically, on how the government's multivector foreign policy fluctuates between Russia's regional integration projects and the Chinese push westwards to develop Xinjiang province along the new Silk Road. As a conclusion, it identifies the multiple goals that may put the future of this plan in doubt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]