Problematising Regional Integration in Latin America: Regional Identity and the Enmeshed State - The Central American Case

Studies of Latin American regional integration follow two strands of thought. The first, which I refer to as the ‘classic,’ interprets regionalism as a logical process: a continuum in which economic cooperation would lead to economic union and eventually to political union. The process is seen mainly as intergovernmental. The second current, the new regionalism studies, conceptualises the process as a constructed multilayered space in which different regionalising actors struggle to impose their discourse on the regional agenda. An examination of the latter strand’s literature reveals that some important aspects for the study of Latin America have been barely incorporated into its analytical framework. Despite the persistence of integration as the background of the region’s politics (Bierck, 1990, p. 9: 9), and evidence of a common identity, the relation between these factors and the complex, patchy, and sometimes, ad hoc nature of integration has gone virtually unexplored. In addition, new regionalism’s multidimensionality becomes problematic. No doubt Latin America has achieved some democratic successes; yet,finding effective multilevel governance and participation in a region historically characterised by oligarchic control is considerably difficult. Although, there is awareness about the close relationship of the state and certain social elites, the issue remains undertheorised.