The movement of political models, public policies and institutions is not a recent phenomenon. Policies traveling from one place to another are intrinsically intertwined with the evolution of political institutions. Southern countries have historically adopted models from the North, owing to different reasons such as colonial legacy, economic dependency on other countries, the circulation of elites, global political trends fostered by Europe and the United States, imposition by international institutions and so on. In the case of Latin America, colonial legacies from Spain and Portugal shaped political institutions in the early stages of nation-state building in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 19th century, European countries such as France were an important source of influence. For example, the separation of powers, a principle that was born in France from the 1789 Revolution, was included in the first Brazilian Constitution in 1824. Later, during the 20th century, the United States expanded into the South and became one of the major influences in the region.