PROGRESS INTO THE 21st CENTURY: THE BOLIVARIAN ALLIANCE FOR THE PEOPLES OF OUR AMERICA

According to Hugo Chavez, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America,-ALBA-is 'a geo-economic, geo-political, social, cultural and ideological space that is in construction'. In this article, the history of regional integration in Latin America since the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which defined the imperial ambitions of the United States towards the Americas, is reviewed, and a distinction is drawn between initiatives intended to develop Latin American economies and those orientated towards progressing Latin American societies. Development is a political struggle for individuals to have more: progress is an evolutionary process by which people become more. In the twenty-first century context of capitalist globalisation, UNASUR (the Union of South American Nations), an initiative modelled on the European Union, is a development institution, and ALBA is a progressive initiative intended to advance human consciousness, ultimately evolving towards a union of kindred spirits.