9. The Regional Political Economy of Knowledge and Environment

This article analyzes the structure of knowledge gaps between the North and South, defining as such the creation of ideas that affect the generation of knowledge and technology for development. We show evidence that there is a strong nucleus of converging causes of different origins that explain these gaps or unequal development structures. On the one hand, these structures and/or gaps come from the innovation system of the countries of the North; and on the other hand, the structural configurations of South America, such as: the weak international insertion of the countries of the South, deindustrialization, asymmetrical international order, and lack of suitable public policies to promote the system of science, technology, and innovation.