ABSTRACT
Mercosur still exists. Despite the challenges it has faced, it still stands as the most significant economic integration program carried out in Latin American history. In addition, we can recognize that all integration efforts stumble from time to time, as the European experience has demonstrated repeatedly. Important decisions, taken by visionary leaders in particular countries or within transnational bureaucracies, move the process forward, often in times of crisis or flux. And as societies and governments deal with the consequences of the leaps forward, there is frequently a reaction either from the losers in the process, or as an intended or unintended consequence of freer trade and integration. Forward momentum is counteracted by reaction almost without fail. A generalization about this process would be this: moves toward greater economic and/or political integration are followed by reactions that slow integration’s momentum. In a sense, these reactions are the reverse of spillover: there are times when integration itself leads not to pressures for greater integration, but for a halt or reversal of integration.
