1st Edition

South American Free Trade Area or Free Trade Area of the Americas? Open Regionalism and the Future of Regional Economic Integration in South America

By Mario Carranza Copyright 2000
    260 Pages
    by Routledge

    260 Pages
    by Routledge

    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.

    Rgional integration theory, globalization and open regionalism in South America; from old style integration to the new regionalism in the 1990s - a future unlike the past?; MERCOSUR - building block or stumbling block towards a Free Trade Area of the Americas?; between two Summits - from a NAFTA-centred FTAA to SAFTA as a counterweight to NAFTA; United States-South American relations after the Miami Summit - hegemony by default or lack of hegemony?; beyond open regionalism - MERCOSUR, SAFTA and the future of regional integration in South America.

    Biography

    Mario Carranza