The Evolution of Mercosur Behaving as an International Coalition, 1991-2012

Abstract

As is well known, Mercosur was conceived as an economic bloc. However, over time, it has also behaved as an international coalition. This article aims to trace this process in the period 1991 to 2012 via two indicators: the voting behaviour of the four original Mercosur member states in the United Nations General Assembly, and positions adopted on international political issues in the communiques emanating from the biannual Mercosur presidential summits. The period under review will be divided into two further periods,

Legislators and Regional Organizations: The Issue of Legitimacy

“…The priority was now South America, and Mercosur became a crucial tool—particularly of Brazilian regional policy—in the negotiation concerning the FTAA (Dri, , p. 190). The Buenos Aires Consensus of 2003, was thus agreed as a means to reinvigorate Mercosur by strengthening its institutional structure (Desiderá Neto, ), especially by giving it an explicit social and political dimension in line with the political orientation of the member states’ executive powers at that moment (Dri, , ). It is in this context that the constitutive treaty of the Parliament of Mercosur was signed, in 2005, to streamline the incorporation of bloc norms into national law and to increase the democratic content of the integration project (Caetano, ), mainly by setting a direct link between the regional project and civil‐society actors (Mariano, ).…”