Photocredits: domdeen/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
President Bachelet has recently expressed particular interest in Argentina becoming a PA member, and as Pro Tempore president of the integration mechanism will devote efforts to this end. Let’s remind us that since the second semester of 2016 Argentina officially became an observer of the mechanism.

However, going beyond the political rhetoric of presidents we need to consider the long-term economic and institutional implications for the PA in this scenario.

Despite efforts by the Argentinian president to signal a change in foreign commercial policy, there is a lot of uncertainty as to whether this is a move reflecting a shift in state policy or rather a short term policy of Macri’s government. Uncertainty on the continuity of this policy after the long lasting protectionist approach of the Kirchner era would not contribute to ensuring stability in this front for the PA. The PA is an integration model that has clearly characterised itself by the alignment of its members regarding commercial foreign policy and development approaches. Changes in unconsolidated state policies by a newcomer such as Argentina could not only slow down the pace but lead to stagnation, as seen in previous integration experiences.

On the other side of the table, Argentina should and will probably focus on putting things in order within Mercosur after Venezuela’s suspension from the integration scheme. This situation triggered a most recent institutional crisis for Mercosur and Argentina’s delegation of the pro-tempore presidency. Joining the PA as a full member would only represent another example of ‘the scape forward approach’ that Latin American governments and states often take towards regional integration.

Finally, I am not sure that with the short length of pro-tempore presidencies within the PA Chile should be investing efforts into extending the number of countries in the PA rather than setting and implementing a work agenda that could strengthen the economic ties and other integration areas within the already existing members. People might say these are not excluding issues but they de facto could be when limited human resources are devoted to performing multiple tasks like is the case in the PA. There is a need to prioritise efforts and areas of work.

The issue could be just part of the rhetoric accompanying the recent presidential visit of Bachelet to Macri, but places on the stage a major missing factor: a clear policy line and criteria regarding new members accession/entry to the PA.

Is the PA ready for the newcomers?

I look forward to your comments on this issue.

Sources: panampost.com

reuters.com

Abstract:
Not available

Resumen:
La investigación tiene como objetivo principal plantear un modelo para encontrar los factores que permiten al gobernante de un país alcanzar altos niveles de competitividad. Para cumplir con este objetivo, se utilizaron herramientas y técnicas de tipo cuantitativo y cualitativo, las cuales permitieron realizar un análisis comparativo de los factores de competitividad, definidos por el Anuario mundial de competitividad, en los 8 países integrantes de los bloques económicos de la Alianza del Pacífico y Mercosur.

Author: Gloria Marlene Díaz Muñoz
Spanish Title: Propuesta de un Modelo de Análisis Comparativo de Factores de Competitividad en Contexto Macro y Microeconómico –Un Caso Aplicado a Países de Alianza del Pacífico y Mercosur 2005-2014 (PhD Thesis)
Full document: 2015, Díaz, Propuesta de un Modelo de Análisis Comparativo de Factores de Competitividad_Un Caso Aplicado a los Países de Alianza del Pacífico y Mercosur 2005-2014

Summary:
In April 2016, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that annual growth in Latin America and the Caribbean would contract for a second straight year, the worst performance since the debt crisis of the early 1980s. Yet regional averages, dragged down by recession in Brazil and sharp economic decline in Venezuela, tell only part of the story. The countries of the Pacific Alliance—Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru—are not the region’s top performers in terms of GDP growth (that distinction falls to Panama and the Dominican Republic). But according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), their average annual growth rate between 2014 and 2016 is expected to total 2.6 percent, more than double the regional average. Together, the four Pacific Alliance (PA) countries constitute almost 40 percent of the regional economy but their collective exports are 55 percent of the region’s total.

The framework accord creating the Pacific Alliance was signed in 2012, aimed at increasing “the free circulation of goods, services, capital, and people,” while also providing a unified platform for deeper integration with the Asia-Pacific region. A review of trade data from 2012 to 2014 suggests that progress toward these goals has been uneven.

Trade has almost uniformly and across multiple sectors decreased within the PA since 2013. Pacific Alliance countries have to a large extent continued to trade more substantially with their longstanding trading partners in large outside markets such as the United States and Europe. Overall, however, and at a time of economic slowdown throughout Latin America, the reductions in trade between and among Pacific Alliance countries in 2013 and 2014 have been smaller than the reductions in each country’s bilateral trade with Argentina and Brazil, South America’s two largest markets. This points to the greater stability of trade within the Pacific Alliance.

 …[T]he relatively stronger performance of Pacific Alliance members vis-à-vis several Asian countries during a period of recessionary shocks indicates that Alliance members are—despite obstacles—making headway in bolstering trade relations with Asian partners, a key goal of Pacific Alliance integration.

Resumen:
No disponible

Authors: Meghan Greene and Cynthia J. Arnson
Full document2016, Greene & Arson, Pacific Alliance Ongoing Challenges Trade Integration

Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to address the supranational integration process in South America from the perspective of the internationalisation of constitutional law. To do so, the first part proposes a basic classification to understand the supranational integration clauses, what they are and what purpose they serve. The second part applies the categories proposed and provides an analytical compilation of the (twelve) constitutions currently in force in South America. Based on an analysis of the explicit text in these constitutions, it identifies both their common features and the discrepancies, to pose questions that may contribute to the economic, political and social integration of the region.

Resumen:
Este artículo tiene el propósito de abordar la integración supranacional en América del Sur desde la perspectiva de la internacionalización del derecho constitucional. Para ello, en la primera parte propone una clasificación básica para entender las cláusulas de integración supranacional; cómo son y para qué sirven. En segundo lugar, aplica la clasificación planteada y ofrece una compilación analítica de las (doce) constituciones vigentes en la región. A partir del examen del texto explícito en las disposiciones, identifica características comunes y discordancias, para proceder a plantear consideraciones que podrían contribuir al proceso de integración económica, política y social que está planteando la región.

Author: Juan Camilo Herrera
Spanish Title: Las Cláusulas de Integración en las Constituciones de Suramérica: 200 años después de la Carta de Jamaica
Full document: 2016, Herrera, Las Cláusulas de Integración en las Constituciones de Suramérica- 200 años Después de la Carta de Jamaica

Abstract:
This article analyses, in a comparative way, the different models of regional integration where Mexico and Argentina are inserted in the twenty-first century. In this circumstance, a historical comparison of the models of integration in Latin America since the nineties and the twenty-first century is made. Under these historical conditions, we will focus on two different forms of integration in the region: the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), of which Argentina is a member and the Pacific Alliance (AP), where Mexico aims to have a leading role in the region.

Resumen:
Este artículo pretende analizar de manera comparada los diferentes modelos de integración regional en los que México y Argentina se ven insertos en el siglo XXI. Para ello, se realiza un recorrido histórico comparado de los modelos de integración en América Latina a partir de la década de los noventa y el siglo XXI. Bajo dichas circunstancias históricas surgen dos formas diferentes de integración en la región: la Unión Suramericana de Naciones (UNASUR), de la que Argentina forma parte, y la Alianza del Pacífico (AP), donde México busca tener un rol protagónico para generar liderazgo en la región.

Author: Nicolás Braslovsky
Spanish Title: Los procesos de integración regional comparados de México y Argentina en el siglo XXI. La UNASUR y la Alianza del Pacífico
Full document: 2016, Braslovsky, Los Procesos de Integración Regional Comparados de México y Argentina en el siglo XXI- La UNASUR y la Alianza del Pacífico

Abstract:
Not available

Resumen:
¿Cuáles son los modelos de administración pública en pugna en América Latina? El documento «La modernización de la organización gubernamental» permite identificar los criterios políticos y las propuestas para un modelo de administración pública desde la perspectiva de los gobiernos de la Alianza del Pacífico, y contraponerlos con los de la perspectiva populista, que aun sin haber desarrollado un sistema conceptual completo y consistente como el anterior, plantea caminos alternativos para pensar y hacer funcionar el Estado.

Author: Horacio Cao and Maximiliano Rey
Spanish Title: El modelo de administración pública en cuestión/ Visiones desde América Latina
Full document: 2015, Cao & Rey, El Modelo de Administración Pública en Cuestión Visiones desde América Latina