Open Regionalism In Latin America And The Caribbean

This collection is a sober assessment of the state of regional integration in Latin America and the Caribbean. It studies the question from four perspectives: economic, institutional, political, and in relation to the rest of the world. It considers the questions raised by LAC countries' efforts to use 'new' regionalism to address the challenges of globalization and to explore the nature and meaning of open regionalism. This thematic treatment draws on the experience of the different schemes currently in place in the region: NAFTA, CACM, CARICOM, the Andean Community and MERCOSUR. It also examines the nature of globalization, including concerns over the relationship between regionalism and the multilateral system. There is now a broad consensus among LAC countries that regional integration can help them adjust to the new world order, but there is much less agreement on how to achieve it and what reforms are needed to bring it about.

As regionalisation becomes an increasingly hot topic, the authors explain why regionalism has been most successful in Latin America and analyse current processes and opinions of possible future developments in the region, including the Caribbean, Central America, Brazil, and Mexico.

Presents papers and discussions on four aspects of regional cooperation, particularly between 1988 and 1993: 1) the future of open regionalism, 2) financial flows for regional integration, 3) the role of intra-regional trade, and 4) NAFTA and beyond.

This title was first published in 2000: This work examines the hemispheric diplomacy after the Summits of the America in Miami (December 1994) and Santiago (April 1998), focusing on the strengthening of the South American position in the FTAA negotiations and the Brazilian proposal for a South American Free Trade Area (SAFTA). The book also looks at the implications of the preceding analysis for regional integration theory and international relations theory. The conclusion looks beyond "open regionalism" and considers three scenarios for US-South American relations after the Santiago Summit. First reassertion of US hegemony and signing of an FTAA agreement on schedule, second, erosion of US hegemony but continuing negotiations between North and South America for a "distant" FTAA, and finally, breakdown of the FTAA negotations and emergence of SAFTA as an alternative to the FTAA.

Both in the Asia Pacific region and in Latin America, considerable confusion surrounds the concept of 'open regionalism' and casts doubt on its relevance for practical purposes. This study surveys the literature on the subject.

This book proposes a renewal of 'Open Regionalism' in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) aimed at achieving the region's goals of high growth with stability. The LAC region experienced a growth spurt with equity during the first decade of the 21st Century. It is well understood that an unsustainable demand boom fueled by terms-of-trade improvements drove this growth acceleration episode, especially in South America. Unfortunately, terms of trade are no longer fueling growth, and the region’s policymakers are in search of new sources of growth with stability. With the experience of East Asia and the Pacific in mind, many policymakers in LAC are looking to international economic ties as a potential source of stable growth. The challenge highlighted in this book lies in designing an integration agenda comprising trade and factor market integration that is conducive to region-wide efficiency gains, which can help LAC enhance its global competitiveness. The forces of geography imply that pro-growth global integration cannot be achieved without building a strong neighborhood. Thus, this volume argues that LAC's regional economic integration agenda needs to go well beyond the current spaghetti bowl of preferential trading arrangements.

The growing participation of developing countries in multilateral trade liberalisation, as well as the boom in free trade agreements that grant exclusive preferences to its members, are both closely related to what has been called 'open regionalism'. This paper examines the differences and similarities among initiatives for regional economic co-operation.