Latin American international integration and global value chains: what changed after the 2008 global financial crisis

This chapter discusses the international development strategies of Latin American economies after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). We argue that mainstream theories developed their propositions on the basis of Global Value Chains (GVC) and free international trade that, we consider, highly restrictive for these economies’ growth and development.The major break out of these developments are that after the 2008 GFC some advanced countries moved towards protectionist policies in order to limit GVCs and international trade; while LA economies, outstandingly Brazil, did not modify their position following uncritically the same international integration in relation to GVCs.In this context, we discuss the economic and financial development in relation to the international integration in the context of the global capital dynamics after GFC. We argue that developing economies, particularly the Brazilian economy experience has a subordinated character in the international financial sphere. This character has shaped its international integration.