Politicization and Legitimacy in MERCOSUR

Hoffmann, Andrea Ribeiro

doi:10.1057/9781137457004_4

Cited by 29 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…However, to the extent that starting in the 2000s, 'any shifts were likely to be informed by societal and market actors' changing assessments of the possible benefits of the regionalisation process,' then bottom-up societal-led initiatives could promote deeper integration (Doctor, 2013, p. 537). Finally, when examining the impact of politicization on legitimacy, Ribeiro Hoffmann (2015) claims that whereas MERCOSUR has experienced different phases and peaks of politicization, these have not triggered comprehensive discussions of the bloc's legitimacy. MERCOSUR has also been depicted as having reached a peak of politiciza-tion through the creation of the MERCOSUR Parliament (PARLASUR; Mallmann & Dri, 2011).…”

Section: Analysing Regional Integration and Politicization In Latin Amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When looking into the conditions under which politicization is more likely to occur in regional projects in Latin America, studies have underscored three driving forces: the level of consensus among member states; the pressures and challenges coming from the activities of opposition parties; as well as from business and civil society organizations (Ribeiro Hoffmann, 2015). In a rather similar vein, a change of government in member states and the level of discontent within the business sector during periods of economic policy change are also factors that may contribute to politicization (Hirst, 1996).…”

Section: Analysing Regional Integration and Politicization In Latin Amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the years since its inception, MERCOSUR has undergone cycles of politicization and depoliticization (Dabène, 2012) and has also gone through peaks of politicization (Ribeiro Hoffmann, 2015). As argued in the case of the EU, the politicization of MERCOSUR can be characterized by 'a patchwork of politicizing moments' (Hutter et al, 2016, p. 283) rather than by a uniform and increasing trend pattern.…”

Section: Mercosur Politicization and External Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, analyses have investigated cycles of politicization and depoliticization of regional processes (Dabène, 2012). Focus has also been on how politicization affects democracy and legitimacy (Ribeiro Hoffmann, 2015) and parliaments (Mallmann & Dri, 2011). Again, and in contrast to the proliferation of debates on EU politicization and trade negotiations (Garcia-Duran, Eliasson, & Costa, 2020;Meunier & Czesana, 2019;Poletti & De Bièvre, 2020;Young, 2019) and external relations more broadly (Costa, 2019), these topics have hardly been discussed in the case of MERCOSUR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Politicization and Regional Integration in Latin America: Implications for EU–MERCOSUR Negotiations?

Bianculli

2020

PaG

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Regional integration in Latin America has experienced different periods of politicization. The most recent goes back to the 2000s and is related to the domestic political changes resulting from the so-called ‘left turn’ which sought alternative economic and development policies to neoliberalism as the state regained centrality. These transformations led to a broad process of politicization of regionalism which changed the terms of the debate surrounding whether regional integration and free trade are the only way for these countries to integrate regionally and internationally. Analyses have thus underscored the postliberal character of this phase of regionalism as reflected in the greater weight of social and political agendas at the expense of economic and trade issues. The Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) was no exception to this trend. However, in 2010 the bloc rather surprisingly agreed to relaunch negotiations with the European Union (EU). Why did MERCOSUR decide to resume these negotiations—stalled since 2004—in a context of high politicization of regional integration? This article argues that internal politicization did not lead to a paralysis of the international agenda. Moreover, internal politicization, coupled with external pressures and the demand for group-to-group negotiations by the EU, drove and supported the conduct of international negotiations. In so doing, this article also contests the idea that after the 2000s, MERCOSUR moved inexorably towards a postliberal model, thus rejecting any trade component. Findings suggest that these accounts may have overemphasized change and underestimated continuities in regional integration dynamics as the case of the external agenda shows.

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Section: Analysing Regional Integration and Politicization In Latin Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Analysing Regional Integration and Politicization In Latin Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mercosur Politicization and External Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Politicization and Regional Integration in Latin America: Implications for EU–MERCOSUR Negotiations?

Bianculli

2020

PaG

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“…This article is concerned instead with an 'empirical' notion of legitimacy, which focuses on the processes and practices of legitimation pursued by regional organizations, and the contestation around these. While scholars have recently begun to focus on Mercosur's processes of legitimation in response to its crises, (Ribeiro Hoffmann, 2015), such analysis fails to adequately explain why these crises emerge, or how exactly legitimacy is linked to them. Accordingly, this article contributes to these debates by proposing an alternative approach to understanding legitimacy empirically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Changing Face of Mercosur: Legitimacy and the Politics of Scale in South American Regionalism

Chodor

2021

J of Common Market Studies

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Mercosur has undergone numerous transformations, from a customs union to an organization promoting development and consulting civil society. Recently, there has been a backlash against such 'politicization', and an attempt to return Mercosur to its origins. At each of these phases, Mercosur was plagued by questions about its legitimacy and purpose, and its leaders reached out to different types of actors to legitimize it. This article argues that each phase of Mercosur's evolution represented the ascendancy of a constellation of social forces, which sought to shift the governance of particular issues beyond the national scope, to secure their interests. In this context, the different legitimation processes and changing actors involved in them represent different balances of forces within Mercosur. The article traces the evolution of Mercosur and its legitimation processes, identifying the social struggles behind them, and the different conceptions of legitimacy constructed and contested as part of this process.

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Contested world order: The delegitimation of international governance

2018

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This article argues that the chief challenge to international governance is an emerging political cleavage, which pits nationalists against immigration, free trade, and international authority. While those on the radical left contest international governance for its limits, nationalists reject it in principle. A wide-ranging cultural and economic reaction has reshaped political conflict in Europe and the United States and is putting into question the legitimacy of the rule of law among states.

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Politicization and Legitimacy in MERCOSUR

Cited by 29 publications

References 0 publications

Politicization and Regional Integration in Latin America: Implications for EU–MERCOSUR Negotiations?

Politicization and Regional Integration in Latin America: Implications for EU–MERCOSUR Negotiations?

The Changing Face of Mercosur: Legitimacy and the Politics of Scale in South American Regionalism

Contested world order: The delegitimation of international governance

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