References

The references are in APA format.

Books

Arnaud, V. (1996). Mercosur: UE, NAFTA y los procesos de integración regional. Buenos Aires: Abeledo-Perrot

• The book, written by an Argentinian politologist specialised in international relations, contains lots of information about the cooperation between the members of Mercosur and also makes a comparison between Mercosur and the EU or NAFTA.

Barraza, A., & Jardel, S. (1998). Mercosur: aspectos jurídicos y económicos (pp. 91-166). Buenos Aires: Ediciones Ciudad Argentina.

• This book explains the main economic features of the region. However, as it’s dated from 1998 (20 years back), we can only use its information to talk about the initial trade patterns between the countries but not about their current exchanges.

Díaz Barrado, C. (2009). Contribuciones de la educación a la integración regional: el caso del Mercosur educativo(pp. 13-20). [Madrid]: Plaza y Valdés.

• This book explains the educational situation in the Mercosur, as well as the evolution it has had in the last decades, the challenges these countries still face and their goals or solutions concerning these challenges.

Gardini, G. L. (2010). The Origins Of Mercosur: Democracy And Regionalisation In South America.New York: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN.

• This book helps to explain the events within South American foreign policy that would eventually lead towards the founding of Mercosur. This was used to give us historical context.

Sierra, G. (2000). Los rostros del Mercosur: el difícil camino de lo comercial a lo societal(pp. 91-122). CLACSO.

• A chapter of this book describes the asymmetries inside the Mercosur. In other words, the different and unequal degrees of development of its countries. We used it to compare the zones inside the organization.

Valsera Prieto, A. (2005). El marco institucional de dos procesos de integración con éxito: UE y Mercosur. Barcelona: VLex.

• A chapter in this book is dedicated to explaining the institutional organization of Mercosur, that’s to say, what its power organs are and what functions each of them have. It’s useful to describe the main characteristics of the organization.

Articles from academic journals

Bernal-Meza, R. (2008). Argentina and Brazil in the International Politics: regionalism and Mercosur (strategy, cooperation and factors of tension). Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, 51(2), 154-178.

• This academic journal article gives information about the process of regional integration followed by the Mercosur, as well as two of its members’ (Argentina and Brazil) importance inside the organization. It also mentions other integrational alternatives in South America opposed to the Mercosur, such as the ALBA. 

Cienfuegos Mateo, M. (2016). La anhelada asociación euromercosureña tras quince años de negociaciones. Revista CIDOB D' Afers Internacionals, (112), 225-253. doi: 10.24241/rcai.2016.112.1.225

• This academic journal article analyses the evolution of the EU-Mercosur’s relation (values of trade) and negotiations with views of creating an economic agreement over the last fifteen years. It also explains the difficulties of this process and the profits it would bring if the agreement was finally signed.

Filho, A. P. (1999). MERCOSUL: Institutional Structure, Dispute Settlement System and a Supranational Court.Washington DC: Instituto Cultural Minerva, The George Washington University.

• This Academic Journal article is important because it analyses the structure and development of the Common Market of Mercusor in detail. This also shows how it has developed since the organisations inception

Frizzera, G. (2013). Paraguay's Suspension in Mercosur: Internal Problem, External Solution.Brasilia: Academia.edu.

• This Academic Journal article gives us information about the consequences on Mercosur after the suspension of Paraguay. It is important because it presents an academic viewpoint on the situation. This is also significant because it talks about how this affected Venezuela’s potential membership.

Gardini, G. L. (2006). Making Sense Of Rapprochement Between Argentina And Brazil, 1979-82. Revista Europea De Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe 80, abril de 2006, No 80, 57-71.

• This Academic Journal article was important because it helped to give us historical context regarding relations between the largest of the Mercosur Member States. This is especially significant because the events discussed here is what helped to lead to the founding of Mercosur.

Lucci, J. J. (2013). MERCOSUR Parliament: Institutional weakness and political stalemate. Analysis six years after its formation. Journal Of Arts And Humanities, Vol 2, No 3, 61-66.

• This Academic Journal article was important because it helped to elaborate on the structure of the Mercosur Parliament. This was very helpful when elaborating on how it was structured in its first inauguration, and when making comparisons to the European Parliament.

Mariano, K. L. (2012). Two To Tango: An Analysis Of Brazilian-Argentine Relations. Belo Horizonte: Fino Traço Editora, 118-121.

• This Academic Journal article was important because it detailed the international relations of the largest of the Mercosur member states. Furthermore, also calling to attention the start of the Constituent Assembly.

Revanales, J. G. (2016). THE PARADIGM OF MERCOSUR FOR VENEZUELA: A SITUATION ANALYSIS. Venezuelan Journal of Conjuncture Analysis, Vol. XXII, No. 2 (Jul-Dec), 41-62.

• This Academic Journal article was very significant when analysing Venezuela’s suspension from Mercosur. This is because it helped to detail the various causes that lead to this occurring.

Websites

Commission, European. (2018, October 15). Building Blocks Of The Single Market.Retrieved from Ec.Europa: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/goods/building-blocks_en

• This page from the website of the European Commission describes and explains the structure of their respective Common Market. This was useful because it allowed us to compare it with Mercosur’s Common Market.

Felter, C., & Renwick, D. (2018). Mercosur: South America’s Fractious Trade Bloc. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mercosur-south-americas-fractious-trade-bloc

• This page in the Council on Foreign Relations website briefly analyzes the creation of the Mercosur, as well as some of its working bodies, its current members, its democratic ideology and some political problems it’s facing in the moment.

Hirst, J. (2018). A Guide to ALBA. Retrieved from https://www.americasquarterly.org/hirst/article

• Since it is a site dedicated to the politics, business and culture in America, it provides reliable information about the creation of the ALBA organization and its ideological characteristics.

MERCOSUR - Normativa y Documentos Oficiales. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.mercosur.int/innovaportal/v/4059/11/innova.front/normativa-y-documentos-oficiales

• The institutional webpage of the organization provides the official documents of its regulations and agreements, especially useful when describing their policies, protocols or common decisions, such as the suspension of Venezuela.

SICE el Sistema de Información sobre Comercio Exterior de la OEA. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.sice.oas.org/default_p.asp

• This webpage also provides legal and official documents related to the Mercosur, such as its treaties of free trade with other regions, or other agreements signed by the organization.

Society, N. (2018). South America: Resources. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/south-america-resources

• This National Geographic page explains the characteristics of the Southern America region, such as its climate, agriculture, forestry and so on. In short words, it summarizes the environmental and geographical characteristics of the Mercosur members.

News and organization articles

AP/LIME. (2003, August 4). Peru Will Join Mercosur. El Universo. Ecuador

• This article was important because, it presents the intention of Peru of wanting to get involved with Mercosur. Making future sources about whether the relationship has improved or worsened more significant.

AMP. (2003, August 23). Peru signs free trade agreement with Mercosur.Retrieved from Emol: https://www.emol.com/noticias/economia/2003/08/25/121264/peru-firma-acuerdo-de-libre-comercio-con-el-mercosur.html

• Through this article we get a coverage of the start of Peru’s associated membership with Mercosur. It was important to have this source because we can see later in future sources how this relationship has developed.

Beittel, J. S. (2017). Paraguay In Brief.Washington: Congressional Research Service

• Within this article, we can find important information surrounding the history of the Mercosur countries, in this case it helped to condense what was needed to understand Paraguay’s role in Mercosur’s history.

Brox, U. (2018). European Parliament: Electoral Procedures. Brussels, Belgium: European Parliament.

• This article was significant because when making a point about how the democratisation of Mercosur’s Parliament had developed, it helped to compare how democratic it’s elections were as opposed to the EU.

Dreier, H. (2016). Mercosur suspends Venezuela for failure to follow rules. AP News. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/d6c987ac4ca84a1ebe5497d4169c6d0e

• This article explains the decision by the Mercosur members of the Venezuela suspension from the organization and their reasons to do so.

El Economista. (2007). Mercosur firma tratado de libre comercio con Israel. Retrieved from https://www.eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/332872/12/07/Mercosur-firma-tratado-de-libre-comercio-con-Israel.html

• This newspaper article explains the main features of the free trade treaty signed by the Mercosur members and Israel, as well as some values of their economic exchanges.

El siglo de Torreón. (2006). Firman el Mercosur y Cuba acuerdo comercial. Retrieved from https://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/226337.firman-el-mercosur-y-cuba-acuerdo-comercial.html

• This Mexican newspaper sums up the conditions of the Mercosur-Cuba economic agreement, the exchange values between the countries and the future expectations of this deal.

European Commission. (2007). Andean Community Regional Strategy Paper.Brussels: European Commission.

• This report from the European Commission regarding Mercosur’s deals with the Andean Community was very significant. This is because it called to attention how these communities became associate members. The fact that this comes from the European Commission is important too because they are acting as a mediator in affairs.

John B Brew, E. M. (2017). Venezuela Suspended From South American Trading Bloc Mercosur.San Francisco: Crowell Moring

• This article calls to attention the suspension of Venezuela from Mercosur. This was useful because it helped to explain the situation, and how the historical events have developed.

Mercopress. (2010, October 20). Political Agreement For A More Democratic Mercosur Parliament. Montevideo, Uruguay.

• This article details the agreement for democratic reform of the Mercosur Parliament.

Mercusor. (1994). PROTOCOLO DE ADHESIÓN DE LA REPÚBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA AL MERCOSUR.Montevideo: SICE

• This details the agreement of Bolivia’s potential entrance as a full member state of Mercosur.

Spuntnik Mundo. (2017). Mercosur cierra acuerdo de libre comercio con Egipto. Retrieved from https://mundo.sputniknews.com/americalatina/201707191070897559-america-latina-cairo-alianza-comercial/

• This article explains the significance of the free trade agreement signed by the Mercosur members with Egypt, as well as the reasons for which it took so long to formalize it.

Última hora. (2011). Mercosur, el mayor productor de alimentos del mundo, cumple 20 años. Retrieved from https://www.ultimahora.com/mercosur-el-mayor-productor-alimentos-del-mundo-cumple-20-anos-n414404.html

• This article summarizes the economic importance of the Mercosur nowadays giving some statistics and it also gives an overall look at the process of creation and evolution of the organization.

Databases and audiovisual sources

BBC News. (2012, June 30). Paraguay Suspended From Mercosur. London

• Within this audiovisual resource, it allowed us to view the Mercosur Parliament as the event was happening, allowing us to analyse the reactions in other ways. 

División de Estadísticas, U. (2018). CEPALSTAT | Bases de datos y Publicaciones Estadísticas. Retrieved from http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/WEB_CEPALSTAT/Portada.asp

• In this database, we find some indicators’ values and evolution over the years specifically from Latin American and Caribbean countries (the geographical region of both Mercosur and the ALBA, organization with which we compared the Mercosur).

Human Development Data (1990-2017) | Human Development Reports. (2018). Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/data

• In this database from the UN, we have the values (by countries and year) of the Human Development Index (its overall value and furthermore, its divided sections, such as the literacy rate, life expectancy, etc), all of them useful for describing the level of development of each country, compared to others.

World Bank Open Data | Data. (2018). Retrieved from https://datos.bancomundial.org/

• In this database, we can find the latest data update from 2017 about many indicators, such as the GDP per capita of each country, its population or its land, as well as this indicator’s evolution over the years.