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- Title
PRESIDENTIAL DIPLOMACY AND THE INSTITUTIONAL UNDERPINNINGS OF MERCOSUR: An Empirical Examination.
- Authors
Malamud, Andrés
- Abstract
The relative success of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) is a puzzle for most theories of regional integration. This is due to its having achieved remarkable progress in spite of lacking features such as significant levels of previous interdependence (demand factor) or major regional institutions (supply factor). To account for this puzzle, it has been claimed that the operation of MERCOSUR rests on presidential diplomacy. Such a mechanism is understood as the resort to direct negotiations between the national presidents whenever a crucial decision has to be made or a critical conflict solved. This article argues that presidential diplomacy--understood as political, summit diplomacy as opposed to institutionalized, professional diplomacy--is insufficient to account for the performance of MERCOSUR. Through the empirical analysis of three critical episodes, the article shows how institutional structures, shaped by the system of government of the member countries, have sustained presidential intervention and, hence, the process of regional integration.
- Subjects
EUROPEAN Economic Community countries; INTERNATIONAL economic integration; INTERNATIONAL economic relations; INTERNATIONAL trade; INTERNATIONAL markets; INTERNATIONAL trade financing
- Publication
Latin American Research Review, 2005, Vol 40, Issue 1, p138
- ISSN
0023-8791
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/lar.2005.0004