Latin american integration in dispute?

Mercosur, three decades between regionalisms

Abstract

This paper discusses the integration models that have historically been object of dispute in Latin America, examining how these political tensions have had repercussions on the trajectory of three decades of Mercosur integration. Thus, the goal was to realize a systematization of Latin American integration tendencies based on the comprehension of developmental, open, post-liberal and post-hegemonic regionalisms, and based on this understanding, this paper analyses the dynamics of Mercosur integration under the regional consensus that formed around the different tendencies of Latin American regionalism. The methodology employed proposes an interdisciplinary study in the field of human and social sciences, with a qualitative approach, which was carried out through the procedures of bibliographical review and documental research. The results obtained point out that Mercosur is in constant dispute between different projects, on the one hand based on neoliberal ideas, focused on open regionalism and on a liberalizing economic-commercial dynamic, on the other hand reformist that propose a multidimensional perspective to the integration process, which incorporate new agendas to the bloc, such as social and participatory, without, however, promoting a break with its liberalizing economic vocation.