Analysis of Intergovernmental and Liberal Intergovernmental approaches in Latin American sub-regional integration

Abstract

The regional integration process in Latin America started in the decade of 1960s and followed a different path from that of other regions in the world. There is no evidence of an in integral process of integration of the regional as a whole, because ever since, 10 different blocs were created in Latin-America, leading the process of integration to a sub-regional level. The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the sub-regional integration of Latin-America from a perspective that has never explored. The two main theories that explain integration in Europe, Hoffman´s Intergovernmentalism and Moravcsiks Liberal Intergovernmentalism, will be tested for the first time in a different region of the world. The main variables of these two theories (national preferences formation, interstate bargaining and institutional delegation) will allow us to characterize each of the individual blocs in the Latin-American region and at the end define what kind of process has it followed: a process of actual integration among its member states or just a mere route of cooperation and policy coordination between governments.

Key words: sub-regional integration, intergovernmentalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental cooperation, national preferences formation, interstate bargaining, institutional delegation, spillover effect.

Student number: 2016-25959