Infrastructure: Explaining the Divergent Experiences of Central and South America

Chapter 5 compares the international political trajectories of two multiyear and multilateral cooperation processes, each aimed at jointly constructing and operating large, physical infrastructure for electricity and transportation that would reach across national borders. The authors find that worries over enshrining dependence and vulnerability to one's neighbors proved to be greater barriers to cooperation where power asymmetries are greater. In Central America, where neighboring countries have similarly sized economies and populations, leaders have succeeded with cooperation in the electricity sector and also concurred on delegating managerial responsibilities. Within South America, where national capacities are distributed more unevenly, constructing regional infrastructure cooperation has proved elusive.