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Presidential Diplomacy and the Institutional Underpinnings of Mercosur: An Empirical Examination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Andrés Malamud
Andrés Malamud*
Affiliation:
CIES-ISCTE, Lisbon and University of Buenos Aires
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Abstract

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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.

Resumen

Resumen

O relativo sucesso do Mercado Comum do Sul (MERCOSUL) constitui um enigma para muitas teorias da integração regional. Isto resulta do facto de este ter atingido um progresso notável, não obstante a ausência de características tais como níveis significativos de interdependência prévia (factor de procura) ou instituições regionais supranacionais (factor de oferta). Um dos argumentos invocados no sentido de explicar este enigma é o de que o MERCOSUL assenta na diplomacia presidencial. Esse mecanismo é entendido como o recurso a negociações directas entre os presidentes nacionais sempre que está em causa a tomada de uma decisão crucial ou a resolução de conflitos sensíveis. Este artigo argumenta que a diplomacia presidencial—entendida como diplomacia política de cúpula, por oposição a diplomacia burocrática profissional—é insuficiente para explicar o funcionamento do MERCOSUL. Através da análise empírica de três episódios críticos, o artigo mostra como as estruturas institucionais, marcadas pelo sistema presidencialista de governo dos países membros, sustentaram a intervenção presidencial, e assim, o processo de integração regional.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , 2005 , pp. 138 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

∗

A previous version of this article was presented at the 2003 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Dallas, Texas, March 27–29. Translations of interviews, documents and newspapers are my own. I am deeply grateful to Alexandra Barahona de Brito, Sebastián Etchemendy, Carlos da Fonseca, Félix Peña, Philippe Schmitter, Luís de Sousa and the anonymous reviewers of LARR.

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