Brazil and Mexico. Shared responsibilities in the field of Latin American integration

Abstract

This article analyzes Brazil and Mexico as two key players in the framework of Latin American integration. In this sense, the author evaluates the progress of structural reforms and the real possibilities that both countries have to lead integration processes in Latin America. According to scholars of regionalism, in order for a given geographic region to integrate, it is necessary the impulse of the strongest actors belonging to that geographic region, as can be seen in the case of European integration when France and Germany played a fundamental role in the framework of the integration of the European Union (EU) in the mid-twentieth century.
In the Latin American region, Brazil and Mexico have followed their own path in terms of regional integration. In this context, Brazil has become the main promoter of the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur) and the Union of South American Nations (Anasur). Mexico, for its part, joined the North American region under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and has been the main promoter of the Puebla Panama Plan (PPP).
Latin America is currently perceived as a region that in terms of integration revolves around very diverse platforms. In short, from archaic and inefficient populism to social democracy and center-right regimes. These variables have generated very diverse visions of Latin American integration, and the region is currently more divided and fragmented than ever.