Identity in Mercosur: Regionalism and Nationalism

Historically, two tendencies have struggled within the Latin America region: one, a strongly nationalist outlook emerging from the creation of the nation-state in the 19th century; and the other, a unitary project to address the threat of an "external enemy." This paper first presents an overview of these two perspectives and examines the performance of Mercosur in the past decade, focusing on the creation of the collective identity of Mercosur. Then it moves on to examine the role of ideas and identity with a view to analyze how this determines and constrains decision making, and to study how this role conditions regional identity. Finally, consideration is given to collective identity in relation to Mercosur.