Regional Integration in Latin America: States, Markets and Organizations

Abstract

This paper is based on the research related to regional integration attempts in Latin America and their effect on the economic development of Latin American countries. Recent analyses clarify that the US’ intervention in the politics of Latin America has been the main obstacle of the regional integration process. Most importantly, political fragmentation of the countries in the region affects the success of the organizations that are formed for the regional integration. This is especially visible in the political processes of the countries such as economic crises in Argentina, political instability in Venezuela and increasing migration to the US from Latin American countries. Notable studies reveal that despite the regional integration efforts, the economic benefits to the region has been limited compared to the benefit of the global economic powers. Different from the current literature, this paper focuses on the internal dynamics of Latin American countries. In this respect, this paper investigates the effect of the regional integration attempts for the economic development of the countries in Latin America. In this regard, the rational state behaviour was found as an important element to explain in relation to the Latin American integration attempts. With a liberal intergovernmentalist perspective, this paper aims to reveal the success of regional integration attempts in Latin America with the cases of Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA), Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) and Andean Community (CAN). The main argument of this paper is that increasing economic cooperation and creating a reconstruction model with a financial assistance to the less developed countries in the region have led to a regional economic development in cohesion with the policies of the regional powers of Latin America.