Yulieth Martínez

This research analyzed the development of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) from the study of its Regional International Regime (RIR). Its analytical perspective was based on the understanding that integration schemes involve the creation of common institutions, that is, RIR. The argument was that UNASUR and other Regional Integration Organizations (RIO) are linked to Regional International Regimes, which provide the basis for shaping its organizational architecture. A content analysis of institutional documents registered in the UNASUR's digital repository was conducted. These documents were produced by the central decision-making bodies of the organization: The Council of Heads of State and Government (CHSG), the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), and the Council of Delegates (CD). The analysis takes 220 institutional documents as primary documents from the first South American Presidents' Meeting in 2000 until the last reports in 2018. With a temporal horizon of 18 years, it was possible to perform a longitudinal thematic analysis that allowed us to observe how the main USAN thematic areas have changed over time due to internal dynamics and transformations in the regional and global context. It was possible to show that the rhetorical appeal for the defense of democracy, human rights (DDHH), and the maintenance of regional peace is marked in the documents produced in the early years of the century. However, over time, the valorization of democracy and human rights (DDHH) is losing centrality as UNASUR becomes institutionalized. By analyzing the power relations made official by the contribution rates of USAN's general budget, it was possible to see Brazil's role as the dominant member state and USAN's main paymaster. In this sense, UNASUR's study of the RIR was helpful because it helped understand the substantive bases of its organizational characteristics and broadened the understanding of its trajectory and evolutionary process.