This book assesses South America's most ambitious attempt at economic integration, Mercosur. It explains the main-and inherent-weaknesses of the integration effort, through explicit comparison with the European experience with integration. Jeffrey Cason argues that the three main reasons for Mercosur's limited success are weak domestic political institutions in the member countries, vulnerability in the global political economy, and a serious imbalance in the economic and political weight of the member countries.

In addition to providing this overarching explanation for...