Audiovisual policy transfer between Mercosur and the European Union has gone offtrack

Abstract

This article analyses the Audiovisual Mercosur Program as a case of policy transfer between Mercosur and the European Union. A qualitative document analysis, expert interviews and the use of policy transfer theory and its constraints made possible the critical evaluation of the program and its impacts. By focusing on the constraints that led to an incomplete and uninformed transfer, we were able to identify an alignment between the underlying ideas of audiovisual policies in Mercosur and the European Union, but also inadequate governance within Mercosur, unbalanced interests between the two trade blocks, and a lack of policy learning. As a result, the transfer of European Union policies reproduced well-documented failures of the European Union's internal market policies relating to the audiovisual sector.