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Dichotomy In Latin America

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Latin America is a region that is marked by sequences of diversity. It is a region not only varied in cultural and geographical characteristics, it is also marked by diversity in the field of economy and politics. When we talk about Latin American economy and politics, there is not such a thing as one Latin American model that countries cohere to. Rather, there is a conflicting approach to these issues, which has led to an economic dichotomy in the region. Pacific Alliance and Mercosur are the two main trade blocs that are involved. The first includes Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru as its members. The latter, Mercosur, consists of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela. This dichotomy has led to two opposing frameworks of economical …show more content…

In the eyes of PA, external relations policies of Mercosur are poor; the scope of trade-liberation is not wide enough as it merely focuses on intra-zone trade, whereas Alianza del Pacifico is aiming to reach the globe via extra-zone trade (Guillén 2013). Intra-zone trade is limited within the bloc, while extra-zone trade refers to trade between the trading bloc and the rest of the world (Tate 397). Particularly Peru oriented its economic efforts to the Asia-Pacific region as a key market, aiming to facilitate incorporation with existing Asian economic chains (Nolte and Wehner 1). Main export products are fuels, mining products, agricultural products and manufactured goods. A good example concerning Peru is its exports of ores of non-ferrous metals. This is an attractive market for both the Peruvian and Chinese economy, as Peruvian sales of these metals to China are nearly a third of its total sales (Ferchen 9). Therefore, Peru attaches great importance to exports that are global in scope, something that is not on the economic agenda of Mercosur. Another reason of Peru not joining Mercosur is political in nature. While Peru has a moderate-left government, Venezuela (member Mercosur) is more radical left oriented. Even though Peru is an associate member of Mercosur, full membership would not be a legitimate choice as these political and ideological differences could bring hindrance to the integration process. Peru could face problems adopting the norms, regulations and values of Mercosur (Bakker 50). The asymmetry of the bloc is observable when disagreements within Mercosur endanger internal integration as national interests are placed before regional unity (Bakker 10). So even though Mercosur dreams of a deepening of regional economical integration, it dreams are shattered by its internal weaknesses. It is this weakness that withholds

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