The Sociopolitical Implications of an Economic Integration in the Case of MERCOSUR : From comparative perspectives

1. 1998年，我们的研究主要关注南方共同市场的社会政治影响，将其与欧盟在民主和社会宪章方面进行比较。我们的结论是，南方共同市场接受民主原则和批准类似欧盟的社会宪章的意图受到欧盟的影响。但社会宪章尚未得到批准，主要是因为新自由主义倾向在成员国政府中占主导地位。在接下来的一年里，我们比较了南方共同市场作为一种关税同盟和北美自由贸易协定作为一种自由贸易协定。可以肯定地说，前一种类型可能具有更多的政治含义，因为它是一种更加巩固的一体化方案。尽管如此，我们的研究表明，在特殊情况下，后者可以比前者具有更大的民主效果，例如在美国存在一个监测网络小组来观察墨西哥的民主。1999年1月，由于巴西单方面贬值本国货币，巴西与阿根廷之间发生了严重的贸易摩擦，动摇了一体化的基础。因此，我写了一篇文章，追踪摩擦的演变及其对阿根廷劳工的社会政治影响。2000年，我试图以南方共同市场为例分析全球化与一体化的关系，分析阿根廷劳工在全球化与一体化面前的态度。我们的结论是，阿根廷劳工倾向于接受区域一体化，但拒绝全球化，或者他们试图利用区域一体化作为对抗全球化的盾牌，假设这是更危险的。

1. In 1998 our study was principally concerned with the sociopolitical implications of MERCOSUR, by comparing it with EU with respect to democracy and social charter. We concluded that MERCOSUR was influenced by EU in its intention to accept a democratic principle and to sanction the EU-like social charter. But the social charter has not yet been ratified, principally because of neo-liberal tendencies predominant within the governments of the member countries.2. In the following year, we made a comparison between MERCOSUR as a type of customs union and NAFTA as a free trade agreement. It is safe to say that a former type can have more political implications, because it is a much more consolidated integration scheme. In spite of this, our study shows that the latter can have more democratic effect than the former, given special circumstances, such as the presence of a monitor network group in the United States to observe democracy in Mexico.In 1999, there occurred a serious trade friction between Brazil and Argentina as a result of Brazil's unilateral devaluation of its currency in January, which shook the bases of the integration. Therefore, I wrote an article that traced the evolution of the friction and its sociopolitical implication for Argentine labor.3. In 2000, I tried to analyze relation between globalization and integration in the case of MERCOSUR and analyzed the attitude of Argentine labor before them. Our conclusion was that Argentine labor tended to accept regional integration but reject globalization or they try to utilize regional integration as a shield against globalization, supposing that this is much more dangerous.