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Introduction


This blog was created by Telma Nzams, Judit Vico and Isabella Palmieri from 101 seminar.

This blog and the following post are related to the Southern Common Market, also known as MERCOSUR. It is going to explain its origins and historical background, as well as the original and current characteristics of it; mainly the geographical, economic and political features. It is also going to compare the differences and similarities between this regional organisation and others from the same continent. Besides, the several concepts of a region that may be applied when people talk about this region and its differences.


Acronyms


MERCOSUR: Mercado Común del Sur ( Southern Common Market) 

LAFTA: The Latin American Association

UNASUR: The South American Union of Nations

LACM: Latin America Common Market

GRAN: Grupo Andino (Andean Group) 

CAFTA: Central American Free Trade
CMC: Common Market Council 
CMG: Common Market Group
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
ALADI: Latin American Integration Association

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Member states and associated states in MERCOSUR

The founding members of this region were Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. In December 2013 Venezuela was later recognized as a full member. However, due to human rights violations in Venezuela, it has been suspended of its participation since 2016.  Bolivia began the process to become a state member in 2015. (MERCOSUR, 2015) Also, only those members of ALADI may apply for such “accession” to the Treaty of Asunción (i.e. as a full member), and for that purpose, they must submit a written request to the Common Market Council. (Fernández Reyes, J. A., 2013) Besides, there are other kinds of states called “associated states” which are those ALADI members that have MERCOSUR free trade agreements and they are being considered as associated members. They are allowed to participate in MERCOSUR meetings which are about topics of common interest. Likewise, the associated states may also be those countries with which MERCOSUR concludes agreements under Article 25 of the 1980 Mon
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Geographical features

The countries members of MERCOSUR represent 70% of the South-American territory (UNED Documentos, 2005), just as its surface is about 15 million km2. Currently, counting Venezuela as a member, the total population of the organization is about 295.000.000 inhabitants of which 10.533.000 are young people aged between 15-17 years old.  (MERCOSUR, 2014) However, if it counts Bolivia as a member in the process, the total population would be of 304,754,969 inhabitants. (Country Economy, n.d.) Regarding the landscape and natural features, the maritime borders of MERCOSUR are the North-Atlantic Ocean with Brazil, the Caribbean Sea with Venezuela, and the South-Atlantic Ocean with part of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.    ( RT, 2015 ) The followed image shows the member states with their current population and current land place. (RT, 2015) Moreover, the followed image shows in Spanish the natural resources of some countries members have, just as the co-existent r
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History of MERCOSUR

Mercosur was created in 1991 and is nowadays a consolidated regional organization. It has its origins in a previous organization: Asociación Latinoamericana de Libre Comercio or ALALC, in which eleven countries of South America were members. Its main goal was to create an area where the members (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela) could trade freely in an approximated period of twelve years. However, the economic instability in the region and the lack of institutions for the purpose of integration stalled the process (Machinandiarena, 2006).   Due to this failure, members of ALALC met and negotiated the Montevideo treaty in 1980, which led to a second organization: Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración or ALADI. Its main goal was to integrate the markets of the different members to establish a common one. Nevertheless, the difference with the later tries in making this were that there were no strict deadlines
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