Mercosur/l at Crossroads

In the context of the emerging global order, Mercosur/l is the first South American integration process to have produced concrete results and to have opened up regional alternatives to achieve a better international positioning for the countries of the Southern Cone. A study of the future of Mercosur/l in the light of its first most significant crisis raises several strategic issues. Does this crisis sound the death knell of this initiative or is it merely a passing storm? Which solution will be the most appropriate: a deepening of the process; the creation of supranational institutions and the widening of membership; or a slowdown of objectives and timetables in a search of a more realistic approach? Whatever solution transpires, the creation of a system of structured relations between South American countries depends on it. And in order to analyze the problem of the prospects of Mercosur/l, it is essential to identify its formative elements, evolutionary trends, and the international and domestic challenges with which it is faced at the turn of the century. The most important exercise is to point out which of Mercosur/l's dimensions were hit by the crisis.