Government-industry relations in Argentina: trade decisions in Mercosur

GIL, LUCIANA

Regional Integration and Modernity. Cross-Atlantic Perspectives

Lexington

Lugar: Lanham, Maryland; Año: 2014; p. 159 - 181

Thearticle explores the tension in industry-government relationships in order toidentify if and how a society, at different periods of its development, candevelop mechanisms to alleviate it. In two different periods, barriers tointra-MERCOSUR trade have been singled out as one of the main causes ofstagnation of the integration process. Attention centers on understanding thepolitical dynamics behind the Argentinean governments? decision to establishthose barriers, looking particularly at business government relations. The articlecombines a historical approach, taking the view that protective measures needto be understood in a wider context, with a political economy approach, in thesense that it considers the political dimension of trade decisions. This is whyit looks in detail at the political process behind these measures, analyzingits different elements, from the national economic framework to the ideology,discourse and practices of agents.