Is a Right Turn an Inevitable Consequence of the Economic Integration of Border Cities? Example of Santana Do Livramento and Rivera on the BrazilianUruguayan Border

Abstract

This article studies the impact of economic integration on the electoral landscape of cross-border urban agglomerations, widespread in the borderlands of Latin American countries, in particular Brazil and Uruguay. With the deepening of economic integration within Mercosur, trade in such cities has become a specialized industry and is stimulated by a free economic zone on both sides of the border; the border map allows residents of such pairs of cities to receive social services on the territory of the neighboring city. As an example, the author observed the case of the cross-border urban agglomeration of Santana do Livramento (Brazil) and Rivera (Uruguay), in which the border runs along one of the central streets.

The author suggests that the possibility of cross-border connections as the basis of the local economy directly affects the electoral preferences of the local population. This is reflected in the support of right-wing conservative political forces which defend the principle of open borders and trade liberalization. Thus, the Uruguayan department of Rivera has remained a stable stronghold of the right-wing conservative Colorado Party for the past two decades, which lost national support in the 21st century. This partly reflects the opposition of the local electorate to the protectionist economic policy of the left-wing Amplio Front, which has won wide support in the rural periphery of Uruguay in the last decade. The electoral preferences of the residents of Santana do Livramento are characterized by greater dynamics of the party structure. Despite the fact that the periphery of the state of Rio Grande do Sul traditionally has a high degree of support for socialist political movements, in the 2020 municipal elections, the candidate from the center-right, Democratas, party won.

It is concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic actualized the issue of closing national borders and provided a right turn in the electoral preferences of the population of the cross-border agglomeration of Santana do Livramento and Rivera. This is contrary to the spatial electoral patterns established in both countries along the axes "city village", "center — periphery".