CIAO DATE: 04/06

Old Wine in New Bottle? The Summit of the Americas in Theoretical Perspective

Abstract

What factors made the attainment of a regional trading bloc a priority at the Summit of the Americas? Why was it so inclusive a gathering? What are the prospects and problems of an American Free Trade Association? How can regionalism in this part of the world be explained theoretically?

Four bases of regionalism in the 1990s are identified: (a) active involvement of the United States; (b) a national development strategy of export-led growth; (c) the adoption of democratic institutions; and (d) global competitiveness. None of them exerted any influence in six earlier attempts at regionalism. The argument is made that, although the latest effort may become the most promising of them all, the variable most critical for long-term success may be how actively involved the U.S. remains.

As such, the empirical findings of the Summit are placed within a theoretical context whose underlying puzzle is relations between the United States, on the one hand, and Latin American countries, on the other. Although three other paradigms are evaluated—development, dependencia, and organizational—none captures the dynamics of regionalism today. To partly fill the gaps, the debate between state sovereignty and supranational pursuits is adopted. This, in turn, accentuates the need to further emphasize three new variables in any analytical framework—the roles of (a) domestic politics, (b) asymmetrical relations as a pull factor, and (c) symmetrical relations as a push factor.

Full Text (PDF, 44 pages, 2.5 MB)