La frontera argentino-uruguaya como formación socioespacial. Entre cohesión y fragmentación.

Abstract

The consolidation of the nation-statein Argentina and Uruguay did not prevent certain spatial continuities along the border constructed in the Uruguay River. Until mid-twentieth century, this stretch of the binational border space acted as functional region; based on shared natural goods and populations with similar socioeconomic features on both sides of the border. Paradoxically, the construction of infrastructures destined to increase physical articulation and the exploitation of water resources in the 1970s, such as the international bridges and the Salto Grande hydroelectric dam, reinforced national government’s presence in border areas, bureaucratizing trafic and reducing flow of interchanges between neighboring communities. In times of supranational integration, successive political and social attempts (national and local) have sought to restore and deepen the levels of cohesion of the border space in the Uruguay River. The socio-spatial continuities have been the central elements that motivate these actions. However, beyond these integrationist efforts, various social and political contradictions have hampered the development of such intentions.