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Since the late 1990s, research on peace operations has increasingly taken up strands of globalization theory to explain changes in the nature of international peacekeeping. This article examines the question of how the dynamics of globalization and regional integration have affected South America's role and involvement in peace operations. It argues that a transformational globalization theory helps to explain developments and structural changes in South America's global peace engagement. This theoretical framework allows identification of global trends that link international developments to the changing involvement, experience and role of South America in peace operations: a growing number and diversity of actors in the operational theatre; structural changes in South America's military organizations; an increased willingness to engage in bi- and multilateral cooperation, including training for peace operations; and processes of both fragmentation and integration.