The tri-border as a pole of attraction for unlawful activities: endogenous institutional conditions and illegality

The articles aim is to identify the specific characteristics that make the Tri-Border area between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina a peculiar cross-border space in the South American context, constituted as a ´pole of attraction for unlawful activities´, a convergence point of different local and transnational actors (individuals and organizations) who carry out such undertakings and as a consequence a continental epicenter of the so-called ´new threats to security´. Three factors are pointed out that determine the specificity of this tri-border area: a physical and services infrastructure which is notably more developed than that of ´similar´ border areas in the region; a geographic location that makes possible the fluent exchange and close connection with the continents most important markets; and the factor that is considered determinant for the understanding of the problem an especially favourable context of institutional and State weakness (characterised by high levels of corruption, especially in the case of Paraguay) that allows unlawful activities to be fruitful.