Integration models in Latin America:

objectives, mechanisms and actors

Abstract

Since the second half of the twentieth century, different integration experiences have been developed in Latin America; depending on their objectives, applied mechanisms and actors who intervened, these can be grouped into different integration models. This is: analytical constructs that try to explain in a simplified way the structural characteristics of the integration processes and that allow describing, explaining and comparing, for example, to MERCOSUR with the European Union This paper compares three Latin American models: the structuralist, open regionalism and post-liberal regionalism, pointing out their links with the development models and proposing discussions with the literature on the subject. In particular, we try to argue that the category of “post-liberal regionalism” has certain weaknesses that make it difficult to use it to explain recent experiences of integration in the region.