Two Steps Forward? Assessing Latin American Regionalism Through CELAC

Abstract

Dreams of Latin American integration are as old as decolonization itself, with Sim on Bolivar's vision of a league of American republics the first of myriad attempts at multilateral engagement. Indeed, the Americas region has challenged Europe at least nominally in its attempts at regionalism and integration. This article investigates the case of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), the most recent and arguably ambitious attempt at Latin American cooperation. The article adopts a "two-step" approach to evaluate the extent to which CELAC is able to achieve its goals. Drawing first on neoliberal institutionalist research in global governance, it argues that CELAC's structural weaknesses and the conflicting interests of its core members raise doubts about its ability to accomplish its wide-ranging material ambitions, including economic integration and promotion of development. It then counters that to focus solely on CELAC's inabilities to facilitate material cooperation would be to overlook the other purposes and functions of the institution, which are continuing to construct, consolidate, and frame a regional identity. Following recent constructivist research, CELAC is framed as a vehicle for the articulation of a shared Latin American identity; it arises out of a continuing and mutually constituting process of region construction and recognition.Los sueños de integraci on latinoamericana han existido desde la descolonizaci on. En realidad, la visi on de las Rep ublicas Americanas de Sim on Bol ıvar fue el primero de una mir ıada de intentos de compromiso multilateral. Por lo menos nominalmente, las Am ericas han competido con Europa en sus intentos de regionalizaci on e integraci on. Este art ıculo investiga el caso de la Comunidad de los Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC), el m as reciente y quiz as m as ambicioso intento de cooperaci on latinoamericana. Este art ıculo adopta una estrategia te orica compuesta de dos partes para evaluar la capacidad de CELAC de lograr sus metas. Empleando la literatura sobre institucionalismo neoliberal de gobernanza global, argumenta que las debilidades estructurales de CELAC y los intereses en conflicto de sus Estados miembros clave crean dudas sobre su capacidad de lograr sus ambiciones materiales de amplio espectro, como la integraci on econ omica y la promoci on del desarrollo. Sin embargo, fijarse s olo en estas incapacidades para facilitar la cooperaci on material significa omitir las otras funciones y objetivos de la instituci on: continuar la construcci on, consolidaci on, y formulaci on de una identidad regional. En l ınea con la literatura constructivista reciente, CELAC aparece como un veh ıculo para la articulaci on de una identidad compartida latinoamericana. Surge de un proceso actual y mutuamente constitutivo de construcci on y reconocimiento regional.

An Overview and Assessment of Performance of the Central American Presidential Summit

“…In this article, I argue that presidential summits in Central America are in crisis, as is the presidential‐driven model of regionalism as a whole. In the line of recent literature that assesses the performance of regional institutions or actors (Kennedy & Beaton, ; Mijares, ), this article affirms that the presidents have not acted as a regional driver because the summits have failed to become privileged spaces for socialization, agenda setting, and the coordination and legitimation of regional norms and practices. We assess the performance of the presidential summits, focusing on the two main concepts of regional political authority and rules compliance.…”

Impact of economic internationalization Policies in Colombia, Peru and Chile

“…In recent years, there have been several studies based on integration in LA, with widely dispersed approaches. Some authors have focused on analyzing the impact of economic integration based on Mercosur (Kaltenthaler and Mora, 2002;Rajagopal, 2007;Kennedy and Beaton, 2016;Campos, 2016), the Pacific Alliance (Mora, 2016;Seatzu, 2015), the Central American Common Market, the Latin American Free Trade Area, and the Andean Pact (Brada and Mendez, 1985).…”

CELAC: Mexican Foreign Policy Interest on Latin American and Caribbean Regionalism

“…Attendees at the summit expressed their concerns regarding the economic crisis, drug trafficking and climate change. In addition, they agreed to oppose the US trade embargo on Cuba (CELAC, 2018; Kennedy & Beaton, 2016;Portales, 2012b).…”