Lessons from the Andean Community Integration. Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series. Vol. 6, No. 12 June 2006

[From the Introduction]. Ever since it was born in the sixties, the Andean Regional Integration Process has attempted to become a strategy to promote a harmonious and balanced development among the Andean Countries. This paper has tree mains goals: (a) To explain and analyse the theoretical concept of the Andean New Regionalism in the framework of Latin American region in a comparative perspective with the European Model of Regional Integration; (b) To show the coexistence of two different regional integration models. Where the dominating one during the sixties was known as old regionalism, and the other that is currently being used is known as new regionalism, and (c) To analyse the way in which this coexistence appears to be an obstacle for the Andean countries to define their regional integration model and to advance toward their main goal: the balanced and harmonious development of each and every country member

Security as a Pillar of the European Union’s Cooperation for Development in Central America

The peace-security-development nexus is present in development cooperation policies. The concept of security has changed since 9/11, consequently influencing the strategies proposed by development cooperation’s major aid donors. To study the relationship between development cooperation and security, José Antonio Sanahuja recently proposed an analytical framework for the securitization of aid, which is based on the Copenhagen School’s concept of securitization. This author argues that cooperation for development policies have shifted depending on the need to support strategies to combat terrorism. This is affecting the strategies and priorities of these policies, mainly, to struggle against poverty, and to defend the democratic component. In the Central American case, security is a priority in the European Union’s new Regional Strategy Paper for 2014-2020. In this work, we will analyze and reflect on the EU’s role in development cooperation in Central America’s security strategy. We intend to demonstrate that indeed it is not a case of securitization of aid. Despite the EU’s recent focus on security in its Central American development cooperation, it does not respond to the elements presented by Sanahuja

After Vienna: dimensions of the relationship between the European Union and the Latin America-Caribbean region.

Regional integration is one of the most effective mechanisms of cooperation among sovereign states to contribute to the welfare of their citizens and to diminish the chances of conflicts. The European Union has been until now the pioneer and undisputed leader in this respect. Since its inception in the 1950s, right after the Schuman Declaration that set in motion the innovative idea proposed by Jean Monnet of sharing the coal and steel industries, Europe has offered a useful model. Strengthened by the Treaty of Rome signed in 1957 (exactly half a century ago), this bold entity was later transformed into the European Union by the Maastricht Treaty. Having accomplished its central mission (“to make war unthinkable and materially impossible”), the EU currently faces challenges of expansion and presents doubts about its process of deepening its pooled sovereignty. Among all of the regions of the world, Latin America and the Caribbean have been fertile grounds for the adaptation of the original European idea. It is for this reason that this volume is dedicated to the study of this effort. It also examines the balance of this special Trans-Atlantic relationship, as experienced in the summits periodically held between the two regions and expressed in the crafting of the Strategic Partnership. The new Central America Common Market, CARICOM, the Andean Community and MERCOSUR are the specific objects of individual analysis