Latin America in the 21st Century: Nations, Regionalism, Globalization by Gian Luca Gardini

Author:Gian Luca Gardini [Gardini, Gian Luca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, General, Political Science, Globalization
ISBN: 9781780322568
Google: Md1iDgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 12633659
Publisher: Zed Books
Published: 2012-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

The Andean Community

Mercosur is the most important truly Latin American subregional integration scheme, and NAFTA is the most interesting and, thus far, unique example of integration between countries of North and Latin America. However, during the 1990s a series of other agreements were revived or conceived in other areas of Latin America, and of these the Andean Community perhaps best embodies the efforts, difficulties and contradictions of contemporary Latin American regionalism.

The Andean Community (Comunidad Andina, CAN) has progressed in an unusual manner: although some institutional developments have been made, these have not been accompanied by similar increases in political sway or economic-commercial growth. Crucially, cohesion has always been problematic within the bloc. In the 1970s Chile left the Community and Venezuela joined. During the same decade, agreements were endorsed for the creation of a Court of Justice, an Andean Parliament and an Andean Council of Foreign Ministers. The impact of this institutional effort has, however, been modest both on the national politics of member states and the negotiating weight of the Community as a whole at the international level. After slipping almost into inactivity in the 1980s, the Community was relaunched at the start of the 1990s with the arrival of the new neoliberal paradigm. Between 1990 and 1991, the CAN made the decision to accelerate the process for the formation of an Andean free trade area and adopt a common external customs tariff, which came into force in 1995. In 1998 the bloc had its first successes as a unified entity in negotiations. The Andean Community spoke with one voice on behalf of member states in negotiations over the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas, and a framework agreement for the establishment of a free trade area between the Community and Mercosur was signed. In the same year, following peace treaties to resolve territorial disputes between Ecuador and Peru, the latter was gradually integrated into the Community’s free trade area. The following year, the Community decided to establish an Andean common market by 2005. Despite these numerous advances, the economic and social situation in Andean countries has improved little, and the role of the bloc in these improvements has been marginal. The Community’s international clout remains limited too. The recent association of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay will not change the situation greatly; the common market is still a chimera and many of the standards approved at a Community level are notable for their exceptions, partial application and complicated overlaps with other agreements between member states or between members and other nearby countries.

However, the lack of cohesion between members of the bloc and of a clear and steady direction are the main factors which put the development and even the survival of the Community at risk. While Chile rejoined in 2006 as an associate member, Venezuela decided to leave the CAN in the same year in order to participate in Mercosur. The two choices seem to be two sides of the same coin. Although on

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