Politicization and Regional Integration in Latin America: Implications for EU–MERCOSUR Negotiations?

Andrea C. Bianculli

doi:10.17645/pag.v8i1.2598

Abstract

Regional integration in Latin America has experienced different periods of politicization. The most recent goes back to the 2000s and is related to the domestic political changes resulting from the so-called ‘left turn’ which sought alternative economic and development policies to neoliberalism as the state regained centrality. These transformations led to a broad process of politicization of regionalism which changed the terms of the debate surrounding whether regional integration and free trade are the only way for these countries to integrate regionally and internationally. Analyses have thus underscored the postliberal character of this phase of regionalism as reflected in the greater weight of social and political agendas at the expense of economic and trade issues. The Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) was no exception to this trend. However, in 2010 the bloc rather surprisingly agreed to relaunch negotiations with the European Union (EU). Why did MERCOSUR decide to resume these negotiations—stalled since 2004—in a context of high politicization of regional integration? This article argues that internal politicization did not lead to a paralysis of the international agenda. Moreover, internal politicization, coupled with external pressures and the demand for group-to-group negotiations by the EU, drove and supported the conduct of international negotiations. In so doing, this article also contests the idea that after the 2000s, MERCOSUR moved inexorably towards a postliberal model, thus rejecting any trade component. Findings suggest that these accounts may have overemphasized change and underestimated continuities in regional integration dynamics as the case of the external agenda shows.

Highlights

International and regional governance are depicted as increasingly politicized
Politicization has been discussed in relation to trade negotiations, especially in the context of the multitier strategy of trade liberalization deployed in the region in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Bianculli, 2017; von Bülow, 2010)
This article has examined the relationship between the internal politicization of regional cooperation and external relations through the analysis of MERCOSUR and the relaunch of the negotiation process with the European Union (EU) in 2010

Summary

Introduction

International and regional governance are depicted as increasingly politicized. From a regional perspective, the case of the European Union (EU) arguably dominates this research agenda. While politicization and differences persisted internally, the negotiation with the EU served as a ‘glue’ bridging internal differences between member states and allowing the bloc to act jointly on the external front This finding suggests that postliberal accounts underscoring the increasing preponderance of the political and social dimensions of MERCOSUR may have overlooked differences across policy areas, overemphasized change, and underestimated continuities in regional integration dynamics as the external agenda shows. This is a case study research, seeking to provide an in-depth review of the process of the relaunch of negotiations between MERCOSUR and the EU in 2010. The final section concludes by discussing the main insights and the broader theoretical and empirical implications of this work

Analysing Regional Integration and Politicization in Latin America

MERCOSUR and a New Long Cycle of Politicization

Giving Negotiations with the EU a New Chance

Conclusions