Uruguay and the region

in search of a new paradigm for insertion in a global world

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to discuss what kind of integration Uruguay should seek in the context of the major changes that have been taking place in the world system since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is structured by linking three different but closely related levels: first, how Uruguay's foreign policy is affected by the growing need to interact in a world that is increasingly more global than international; second, how to redefine the link between the country and the globalized world, and with the region as the natural space in which it should be integrated; third, and as a consequence of the above, what kind of changes could be promoted to adapt Uruguay's instruments of international insertion to the remarkable changes that are taking place in the international system. Finally, the paper concludes with some reflections on the country's productive sectors and the type of organization considered most appropriate to become the driving force of the external sector in the current regional and international context.