THE BRICS ENLARGEMENT HAS BEEN A MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina's refusal to join the BRICS, in the context of its membership expansion, approved at the 15th summit at South Africa, is an indication of the difficult times faced by South American regionalism. Argentina's foreign policy is geared to a 100 percent pro-Western orientation, that which implies immediate cooling off relations with China and the Global South. Within this context, ties with Brazil became and unavoidable geoeconomic necessity. Hence, joining the BRICS, which had parted from a Brazilian diplomatic move, is out of the question. During the late 20th century Brazilian-Argentine bilateralism had translated into unprecedented confidence-building schemes that put South America on track to becoming a pluralistic security community. This trajectory was gradually dismantled, largely as a result of the foreign policy orientations of both countries. At present, Lula da Silva's commitment to reactivate South American multilateralism has not been as successful as Brazil's proactive involvement in global affairs. While Argentina`s "no thanks" hardly affected BRICS renewal; it most of all brought costs to South America and to Brazil's aspirations to promote a new wave of constructive regionalism in the area.